HASSAN: There seems to be no respite for farmers in the district from the vagaries of the monsoon and market instability.

Last year, they cultivated ginger hoping to make good the loss incurred in 2004, but excessive rain endured that the harvest was not bountiful. To recoup the loss, they cultivated green chilli this year. But despite getting a good crop, the fall in price of chilli has left them frustrated. The farmers say they took loans from banks and moneylenders to cultivate chilli but they are unable to recover their investment.

Sources in the Department of Horticulture said the farmers cultivated green chilli on 5,000 hectares of irrigated land and got a good yield. But there is no demand for the produce.

The farmers protested by dumping green chillies on the premises of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) yard last Thursday when wholesale dealers, who had bought chilli from farmers at Rs. 6 a kg a few days ago, offered only Rs. 2 a kg on Thursday.

"It is not the first time farmers are faced with the problem of fluctuating prices. It has become a common phenomenon in recent years. The Government is not making any effort to address the problem," said Chandre Gowda, a farmer from Alur.

The traders are also helpless as they are finding it difficult to recover the investment made. According to them, they are forced to sell the produce at a low price. Arun, a chilli trader, said they lost Rs. 70 on a bag of 25 kg this time because of the glut in the market. With traders in Bangalore getting fresh chillies from neighbouring districts at a price lower than that for Hassan chillies, they were rejecting chillies sent from Hassan, he said.

Hanume Gowda, a farmer from Salagame said the traders could not be blamed because they wanted to protect their interests. It was the responsibility of the Government to rescue the farmers by fixing support price for chilli. The Government had helped onion and tomato growers, and it should do the same for chilli growers, he added.

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