A huge carry forward stock & subdued prices are likely to decline acreage under red chilli this year
Demand of chilli seeds this kharif season is on the downfall because of the large carry forward stocks which is leading to subdued prices and farmers are also showing interest towards other crops like maize, cotton, pulses particularly green gram in states of Karnataka, Maharashtra which are key producing states of chilli
According to Sambasiva Rao Velagapudi, President of Chilli Exporters Association in Guntur, chilli acreage is down by 20% as compared to last year as of now and as reservoirs have sufficient amount of water so planting may continue till September
Farmers are shifting towards alternative crops like cotton and maize because of several reasons where primary one is huge carry forward stocks around 2.2 crore bags Andhra alone is carrying 1 crore bags followed by Telangana 50-55 lakh bags and around 70 lakh bags by Karnataka. Other reasaons include low demand this year because of high production last year
Decline in sales of Chillli seeds
There is decline in the sales of chilli seeds this year by 35% according to Sandeep Voddepalli , GM at BigHaat Agro Pvt Ltd, Karnataka witnessed drop in the sales of Byadgi and Dabbi seed variety by 40% while Teja seeds by 20 % in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
According to him there is decline in the area of M.P. under chilli cultivation by 40% and in Karnataka by 40%, all India level could witness the decline by 35-40% and acreage could reduce to 9-9.5 lakh acres as compared to 13 lakh acre last year.
He said there around 900 million bags of chilli in cold storage which was 500 million kgs last year.
