Chilli productivity increased by 12.8% in the villages that were covered under the Chilli Farm Value Chain Development (Integrated Agri Extension Platform) last year. The estimated productivity from the project (IAEP) villages was 24.1 quintals per acre (28,950 metric tonnes from 12,000 acre) against an estimated productivity of 21.3 quintals per acre from general villages.
The total production in the IAEP villages was approximately 28,950 MT. Of this, 15,090 MT was sold till April and procurement is in progress.
With the ‘learnings’ from 2019-20, the State government has decided to extend the scope of the project up to 25,000 acre this year (2020-21). The Horticulture Department has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the ITC. As part of it, the IAEP will be implemented in 62 villages of Krishna, Guntur, Kurnool and Prakasam districts, says Horticulture Commissioner Chiranjiv Choudhary.
The project has potential to improve crop productivity to the tune of 10-15% and improve high grade production by 8%. The benefit to the IAEP farmers over general farmers works out to be ₹18,949 per acre. Primarily it is due to 13% average productivity improvement and 8% average quality improvement. Also, the farmers have benefits in the market due to PHPM (Post Harvest Product Management) practice, he says.
Comparison
Compared to gross return of ₹1,63,386 per acre of the general farmer, the gross returns per acre for an IAEP farmer will be ₹1,89,304. Similarly, the net returns will be ₹79,835 per acre against net returns of ₹60,886 per acre of the general farmer. The IAEP will get more grade A (kg/acre) — 795 kg against 603 kg (general farmer); the talu will also be less — 159 kg against 202 kg by the general farmer, he says.
There is a potential of 2.60 lakh acre in Prakasam, Krishna, Guntur, and Kurnool districts. During the first year, 12,000 acres were covered. Now, it will be 25,000 acre this year, the coverage will be extended to 1 lakh acre by fifth year from 2019-20. The objective of the IAEP is to improve the competitiveness of the chilli crop in terms of its productivity, quality, sustainability and price, so as to maximise value and ensure better returns to the farmer, through a set of physical and digital interventions to improve production, he says.
As part of this programme, the ITC has deployed skilled, digitally enabled agri extension staff in the project villages. The chilli farmers have been provided access to the e-Choupal 4.0 mobile app. They can also talk to industry experts through the call centre.
