Ginger farmers in Kerala and Karnataka generally prefer to harvest ginger by the first week of April as they get the maximum value of their produce at that time. But more than 60% of the farmers, especially those cultivating ginger rhizome in Karnataka, are yet to harvest their crops due to the sharp fall in the price of the produce.
The farm gate price of the produce in Wayanad on Thursday ranged from ₹1,000 to ₹1,100 per bag (60 kg) as against ₹2,300 per bag during the same period last year. A few years back the price had gone up to Rs 8,000 per bag, prompting many farmers to take up ginger cultivation.
Arun Anto, a ginger trader said that over production and diseases affecting the crop, especially bacterial wilt disease affecting mature rhizomes, are the major reasons for the low price of the produce. Besides, there has been no demand for the produce from North India after the outbreak of the pandemic, he said.
“Farmers expect that the area under ginger cultivation has increased almost three times this year. The expansion of ginger cultivation areas in other states like Maharashtra and Jharkhand also led to higher supply of produce,” he said.
“The average yield of ginger from one acre is 18 to 20 tonnes. But due to fungal diseases in many parts of Karnataka this season it has come down to 10 to 12 tonnes,” said PV Ilyas, a farmer. “We were getting an average price of ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 per bag. But the price we got from last September was ₹850 per bag,” said Navrang Mohanan, general secretary of the Kerala Ginger Growers Association, (KGGA). Hindu ,
KK Mathew, a farmer from Meenangadi, says that he had invested around Rs 60 lakh on the crop on a 10-acre leased land in Sargur, Mysore. But, he is not sure whether he will be able to recover half the amount at the current rate.
The situation of other farmers was no different. In addition, the agreements signed between farmers and landlords in many parts of Karnataka will expire by the end of May. He said that if a farmer wants to keep the rhizome on the land, he has to pay a huge amount as rent after the tenure.