It was not just tea but the cardamom crop that also bore the brunt of frost, registering a 10 per cent drop in production in the last one month.
Cardamom production was already lower by 40-50 per cent due to the floods last August. The chilly weather in December-January has made things worse, and is certain to affect productivity next season, Sadasiva Subramaniam, secretary, Kerala Cardamom Growers Association, told BusinessLine.
This has happened at a time when growers have geared up for replanting and rejuvenation of plantations on the expectation of a better harvest season in the June-July period. They have carried out replanting on around 10,000 hectares, he said.
Price rise
However, cardamom prices have started moving northwards, touching ₹1,500/kg, rising 10 per cent due to short supply and lower production. The rise in the price in the last 2-3 weeks was almost ₹200/kg.
Even the price of the cardamom 8 mm variety, one of the best varieties available in the country, has gone up to ₹1,700/kg as the availability of this particular variety is scarce. Frost was on the higher side in many of the cardamom plantations in the high ranges and this has considerably affected production, he said.
Subramaniam alleged that it was not the growers who are the real beneficiaries of the price increase but middlemen, who stocked sufficient quantities and brought it into the auction market through re-pooling. As production was on the lower side, growers were forced to sell their commodity. Growers are also concerned about the impending wage hike in cardamom plantations, where unions are demanding ₹600/day from the current ₹361.
Multiple challenges
The prediction for the next season’s production is going to be difficult due to the rain deficit being witnessed in many of the plantation areas, both in the Vandanmedu region in Kerala and in the Valppara and Meghamala areas in Tamil Nadu, he said.
He also criticised the agriculture department for not extending any support for the sector after the floods as the fungal disease in the form of capsule rot and tiller decay had hit the crop.
PC Punnoose, CEO, Kerala Cardamom Processing and Marketing Company, said that the next year’s crop would be delayed due to the absence of sufficient summer rains. Many of the growing areas are witnessing a rain deficit of nearly 40 per cent.
One rain per month is ideal for cardamom plantations in summer. Farmers are now opting for irrigation, which is expensive at a time when the sector is passing through a crisis. The sector is anticipating a 1/3rd drop in production vis-a-vis the last year's figure of 25,000 tonnes.
There are reports that the government is mulling a compromise formula with Saudi Arabia for the export of green cardamom. The Saudi authorities have banned green cardamom due to the issue of pesticide residue limits, he added.