Why Byadagi chilli is turning up the heat in Karnataka

A sharp fall in prices of Byadagi chillies, a famous variety of chillies grown in Karnataka, has triggered violent protests at the APMC market in Haveri district with irate farmers resorting to vandalism and arson.

Sources said a group of farmers, outraged by the sudden fall in prices of dry chillies, went on a rampage, setting at least 13 vehicles including a fire engine ablaze at the Haveri market, reputed to be Asia’s leading chilli market. The price of chillies which was ₹20,000 per quintal last week fell to ₹12,000 this week.

Farmers reportedly broke into the Byadagi APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) office and vandalised furniture inside it. Others protesting outside pelted the building with stones, smashing its window panes. Several protesters also vented out their anger by throwing stones at the car of the APMC president.

A group of farmers reportedly set a pile of chillies on fire. This engulfed the market in a plume of poisonous smoke, making it difficult for those present to see or breathe, sources said.

What caused the fall in prices?

APMC officials have attributed the drop in prices to the ‘low quality’ of chillies that have been coming to the market in the past two weeks.

They say an acute shortage of porters and lack of space to store the chillies have also aggravated the situation.

“Storing the chillies is a headache as there is a lot of sunshine. While the chilli market in Haveri has 32 cold storages, there is no storage space available in Bellary, Raichur, Kalaburagi and Andhra Pradesh,” said an APMC staff who did not wish to be named.

‘Arsonists were not farmers’

While chilli prices have fluctuated in the past, this is the first time farmers resorted to violent protests, going to the extent of pouring petrol on vehicles to set them on fire.

Suresh Gowda Patil, president of Badagi Traders' Association, however, asserted that the protesters who burnt vehicles were not farmers, but outsiders who came from outside the district and the state.

“The arsonists were not farmers. I can’t name them, but we have an idea who they could be. There is no question of letting anyone go. The Karnataka Police are probing the matter,” he said.

Market timings changed

Every Monday, thousands of farmers from Haveri, Bellary, Gadag, Vijayapur, Koppal, Bagalkot, Raichur and neighboring Telangana, congregate at the APMC market in Haveri to sell their chillies. On Monday, more than 3.11 lakh bags of chillies were brought to the market for sale.

The market is also visited by traders who come to buy the chillies at wholesale rates. Apart from Haveri, the farmers also sell chillies in Hubli-Dharwad APMC markets. Both these markets are important in the northern part of Karnataka.

However, after Monday’s violence, the APMC has decided to allow farmers to sell their chillies twice a week – on Mondays and Thursdays – from next week onward, Patil said.

Speaking to The Federal, Patil said that all the important people met and decided to hold the market twice a week. “This will not cause congestion in the market,” he said.

Shivanand Patil, the minister in-charge of the district has also appealed to the farmers not to lose their patience due to the fall in prices of chillies.

While state home minister G Parameshwara said the government has taken serious note of the violence at the APMC market and will take appropriate action on the matter, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has sought a report on the sudden fall in chilli prices.

Anti-farmer policies of Congress govt: BJP

The state unit of the BJP has dubbed the incident a fallout of the “anti-farmer” policies of the Siddaramaiah government.

“Farmers are distressed due to lack of drought management. If the Congress government had taken care of farmers' problems and distributed drought relief at the right time, farmers would not have reached the stage of damaging the APMC premises,” said Leader of Opposition R Ashoka.

“At least for now, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should wake up from his deep slumber and promise drought relief to the farmers. Otherwise, the day is not far when the desperate farmers will set fire his residence and the Vidhana Soudha on fire,” he said.

Crisis in Andhra Pradesh, too

Prices of the famous Guntur chillies of Andhra Pradesh have also witnessed a drastic fall even though a bumper yield this year had assured farmers of huge returns. While farmers, soon after the harvest, sold a quintal of chillies between ₹25,000-₹30,000, they could reap the profits only for a month. The prices of the chillies saw a slump by at least ₹15,000 thereafter.

The prices of chillies at the Mirchi Yard in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district have been witnessing a fast slump over the past 10 days, farmers said. A quintal of chillies is currently priced at not more than ₹20,000 at the yard.

The Teja variety of chillies that cost at least ₹30,000 per quintal 10 days ago, is now being sold at ₹20,000 per quintal. Similarly the price of the Super Deluxe variety has slumped to ₹25,000 per quintal. The 355 Byadagi variety has also seen a price drop.

Prices of chilli varieties including the 355 Byadagi, Sigenta Byadagi, Suvarna Byadagi, 341 type, No. 5 type, DD type, Shark type, 273 type, Kubera type, Armor type, Gold type, Bullet type, Romi type, Classic type, and Yellow types have fallen by ₹10,000 to ₹14,000.

Lack of cold storage space the culprit

The Guntur Mirchi Yard is one of the largest chilli markets in Asia. At least one lakh quintals of chillies are sold daily in the market. Apart from Andhra Pradesh, the yard also receives a lot of stock from Telangana and Karnataka. Always crowded with lorries, the yard has hundreds of workers ready to weigh the chillies. If certain farmers’ collectives bring chillies together in trucks, traders buy the stock directly from them.

Sources say a lack of space in the cold storages of the state is a reason behind the fall in prices of the chillies. There are more than a hundred cold storages between Guntur and Vijayawada. But, traders who bought chillies in bulk, have used the maximum space to store the chillies in these storages, leaving little space for farmers. The lack of space to store their surplus chillies is forcing farmers to sell them at lower rates.

Farmers blame traders

Chillies are cultivated on 2.25 lakh hectares in the state. Farmers say the yield of chillies is 45 to 50 quintals per hectare. Although the crop was damaged in many places due to the recent rains and Cyclone Michaung, the yield wasn’t impacted to a large extent. Farmers, however, rue that they have harvested discoloured chillies at many places, leading to a fall in their prices.

Naru Venkata Reddy of Erragonda Pale Mirchiraithu in Prakasam district, where Guntur chillies are grown, expressed surprise at the sudden drop in prices.

“There is a difference of 30 to 40 per cent between the current price of the chillies and that 10 days ago. The traders initially bought our produce, but now they are not buying so much. The minimum investment in an acre of crop is ₹1 lakh, and we will get profit if the produce is sold at least ₹3 lakh. But it is likely to happen given the current circumstances,” he says.

He alleges that the traders formed a syndicate and reduced the prices. Otherwise, prices were unlikely to come down, he said.

“There is no fall in the prices of chillies or chilli powder in the international market. But due to the arrival of chillies at the Guntur chilli yard, the traders have syndicated and made the prices to fall," Reddy said.