The low price of ginger rhizomes and a sharp decline in production have cast a shadow on thousands of ginger farmers across Kerala and Karnataka.
The spot price of ginger in the Wayanad market on Saturday was ₹850 to ₹900 a bag (60 kg) as against ₹2,900 a bag in the corresponding period last year.
“During winter, there was huge demand for the produce in north Indian markets. However, there were no enquiries from those markets owing to the morbid state following the farmer agitation,” said K. Benny, a trader at Sulthan Bathery.
“Earlier, nearly 350 loads of ginger rhizomes used to be transported a day from Kerala and Karnataka to other parts of the country. Now, we transport below 50 loads only to south Indian markets,” he added.
Ginger harvest usually starts at the advent of winter. The harvest during the period also helps in getting a better price for the produce, as ginger rhizomes have good demand in northern states during the season, according to Navrang Mohanan, general secretary, All India Ginger Growers Association. However, the price and production dropped drastically this year.
P. Shobhan Kumar, a farmer at Sulthan Bathery, said he had invested nearly ₹5 lakh on the crop on leased land. “But I cannot recoup half of my investment, if I harvest the crop at the lowest price,” he added.
The area under ginger cultivation increased nearly threefold this season because of the good price for the past two years, Mr. Mohanan said.
The average yield of ginger rhizomes from an acre is 18 to 20 tonnes, but it declined to 10 to 12 tonnes this season, as many a farmer started cultivation two months later owing the pandemic outbreak.
Around 25,000 farmer groups in the State cultivated the crop on nearly 1,00,000 hectares of leased land in Karnataka alone this year.
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