Turmeric price drop disappoints farmers in Mys, Ch’nagar

Mysuru: The steep fall in turmeric prices has left farmers disappointed in the twin districts of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar. Farmers in Chamarajanagar district alone cultivated the Erode-Salem variety of turmeric on around 20,600 acres this season. They expect to produce 50,000 tons of turmeric this year. Even growers in the Mysuru district cultivated this commercial crop on 1,730 acres and expected to produce 7,590 tons this year.
Farmers in Hunsur taluk, where tobacco cultivation was popular, also switched to turmeric, but the price crash has left them worried. Chamarajanagar produces 38% of the state's turmeric. Until Jan, a quintal of turmeric fetched between Rs 14,000 to 16,000 per quintal in the Chamarajanagar APMC market, but now the price has dropped to Rs 11,000. The "one district one product" (ODOP) scheme has also recognised Chamarajanagar district for its turmeric cultivation, providing support to enhance the industry.
Usually, farmers in the region take up the cultivation of turmeric during the pre-monsoon showers in April and May and harvest during Dec-Jan every year. As turmeric needs to be processed immediately after the harvest, it takes another two to three months for farmers to boil, dry in the sun, and polish it to make it ready for the market.
Last year, the prices of turmeric soared in the local market, reaching up to Rs 20,000 per quintal, bringing a windfall for farmers after a gap of 13 years. Prices were also stabilised until Jan this year, as a large number of buyers from neighbouring Erode, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, as well as other multinational companies, were buying from farmers in the APMC market. However, this year, the prices dropped to Rs 11,500 per quintal, dashing the hopes of farmers, said Nagarjunakumar, vice-president of the Chamarajanagar Turmeric Growers' Association.
"I have spent nearly one to 1.5 lakh to grow turmeric on my one acre, including pesticides, fertilisers, labour costs, from sowing to harvesting, processing, drying turmeric, and other charges. But the drop in turmeric prices this year has disappointed me. Even the yield also declined to 25 quintals this year from 40 quintals every year," said Mahadevaswamy, a turmeric farmer from Honnashettarahundi in Gundlupet taluk.
The State Farmers Federation Vice President, Baradanapura Nagaraj, blamed the market lobby for the steep fall in turmeric prices this year. Usually, traders buy turmeric from farmers whenever prices crash in the market during March/April at Rs 11,000 per quintal. They store it for a few months and sell it later by creating an artificial scarcity of turmeric in the market at the rate of Rs 22,000 to Rs 23,000 per quintal during June, thus making a profit every year, he alleged.
Deputy Director of Horticulture, Manjunath Angadi, advised turmeric growers to wait, store it, and sell it whenever prices increase until they stabilise in the market during June/July, as prices usually drop during the harvesting season every year. Farmers must stop selling in panic or worrying about a further price crash. Turmeric growers in the Mysuru district, including Hunsur, where tobacco cultivation is famous, are now switching to turmeric as it is fetching decent prices for them for the Erode variety turmeric in the national and international market, he said.