Peak season pains for cardamom farmers

With the harvesting season at its peak now, cardamom prices have dropped sharply to the utter dismay of the small and medium grower community.

The arrival of cardamom to various auction centres was heavy, and prices nosedived. The current average price is Rs 710 a kg compared to Rs 1,350, three months back. The best quality cardamom now fetches Rs 770 a kg.

Market sources expect further southward movement in prices as plucking of ripe cardamom is in full swing in most parts of Idukki district of Kerala. October to December is the peak harvesting season. As the season progresses, market experts see the price line to touch Rs 600 a kg.

 

Around 100,000-plus small and medium farmers have no other way but to sell their crop as stocking facilities are limited. Because of its peculiar nature, cardamom cannot be stocked for long without degradation of quality.

During off-season, the price tag of best quality cardamom touched the level of Rs 1,700 a kg. According to farmers, only  large-scale growers could take advantage of the off-season price increase as they had better storage facility.

After December, the market is expected to rise due to lower arrivals and low stock. But the current market is really a setback to the large contigent of small and medium growers of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.