Kerala restrictions: Price of ginger plummets, Old Mysuru farmers stare at losses

For the first time in recent memory, the price of ginger has crashed, largely due to travel restrictions to Kerala, leaving farmers in the Old Mysuru region a worried lot.
Cultivation of ginger is considered safe and profitable and it has become a major crop in the Old Mysuru region especially in Mysuru, Shivamogga, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Chamarajanagar districts.
Because of its profitability, growers from Kerala take farm fields on contract in the region and cultivate ginger. But now prices have fallen, and farmer unions have decided to urge the government to bail them out.
Badagalapura Nagendra, state president, Rajya Raitha Sangha and an organic ginger grower himself, said the main reason for the price crash is the pandemic. He said exports have dried up and farmers are now in distress.
“One of the biggest domestic markets for ginger is Kerala but today, there is disruption in supply due to the Covid-19,” Nagendra said. “We want the state government to intervene in markets,” he said.
Growers say the price for a 60kg bag, which was Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 two years ago, has fallen to a paltry Rs 400 this year. Last year the prices were between Rs 800 and Rs 1,000. Similarly, the rate of a 60kg bag of one-year-old ginger has fallen from Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000 in 2020 to Rs 1,600-Rs 1,700 now. With no government scheme to buy produce, farmers say they are staring at huge losses.
Farmers in the region generally sow a fresh crop in February and harvest it in November or December. Hosur Kumar, a ginger grower from Hosur in Hunsur taluk, Mysuru district, said increase in the area for ginger cultivation is also a reason for the drop in prices. “The harvesting season is yet to begin. Farmers fear prices will come down further,” he said.
Kumar said farmers are selling old ginger. “The price crash is a headache for all of us. Our fear is that prices may not recover for months now,” Kumar said.