The fresh harvesting season of cardamom started with the prices of the commodity declining sharply. The average prices of the commodity, which was Rs 1,560 a kg last week, declined 15 per cent to Rs 1,325 a kg today. prices had fallen to as low as Rs 1,260 a kg during the week.
The fresh enthusiasm among the growers of Idukki district of Kerala has suddenly vanished as the season began on a strong bearish mode. The farmers were thrilled with the price rise during last two-three months as the average price went up to Rs 1,600 a kg. In July, the best quality cardamom was quoted at Rs 1,770 a kg. But the recent fall in prices has created anguish among the growers.
It is said that the arrival to various auction centers of Idukki increased tremendously as production is expected to increase this time. The average daily arrival was between 45,000-48,000 kg compared to 10,000 kg last month.
Farmers refuted this saying there had not been any significant increase in the arrival compared to last couple of seasons, but the prices have been declining. This is mainly based on reports that production would increase this time.
According to K M Michel, president, Cardamom Growers Association (CGA), there would not be a sharp increase in production and he estimated the production to be 10,000 tonnes. There has been an increase of around 7,000 hectares in the area under cultivation, taking the total area to 40,000 hectares.
So far, the climate at the producing centers has been favourable. This is the main reason behind the fall in prices as production would pick up strongly after Onam festival season in Kerala.
Farmers said that the low weight of cardamom in this season is a concern in some areas. Earlier one kg of dry cardamom could be produced by drying around five kg of green one. But now this ratio has shifted to 1:6.5 owing to loss in weight of the fresh crop.
Normally 20-30 seeds are there in one cardamom shell, but in some areas this is dropped to 15-18 seeds which resulted in the weight loss and there by paving huge loss to growers. Growers are ignorant about this problem and urged the Spices Board to have a scientific study on the issue.
As the season commenced with a pessimistic note, farmers are aggressive on selling as prices are expected to come down further. The harvesting may even extend till February this time.
