Pepper soars to new high at Rs 270-78/kg on low output

KALPETTA (KERALA): Pepper prices in Kerala have touched a new high of Rs 270-78 a kg and the trend is set to continue due to production falling far short of the demand.

The spot price of pepper last weekend in Wayanad, one of the world's major growing areas, stood at Rs 270 a kg for ungarbled and Rs 278 a kg for garbled, against Rs 165 and Rs 173, respectively during the corresponding season last year.

According to market sources, the prices are set to rise in the coming weeks as the demand-supply gap would further widen due to drastic fall in production.

They attributed a combination of reasons for the output fall like afflictions wilting pepper vines, high input cost, climatic factors and shrinkage of cultivated area.

Projections by official agencies said pepper production in Kerala is expected to fall to 23,322 tonnes from 29,152 tonnes in the previous financial year.

Recent surveys showed that the area under pepper cultivation had shrunk by about 25 per cent over the years. Unsteady prices at the turn of the century and increasing input costs are seen as factors that prompted the farmers to switch over to other crops.

The upsurge in price of pepper, traditionally known as 'black gold' due to its intrinsic quality and international demand since time immemorial, has not cheered the medium and small holders, who account for 80 per cent of growers in Kerala.

According to Gopi, a medium-scale farmer, the drastic decline in yield would cancel out the benefit brought by high prices. "Some six years back, I used to harvest about 14 quintal from one acre. This year, this has come down to as low as 5 quintal per acre," Gopi told media.

The slump in production and unattractive prices had prompted a large number of small farmers to give up pepper cultivation at the turn of the century. This had a cumulative fallout on the production profile of Wayanad over the years.

Another factor often cited by farmers was virtual vanishing of 'erythrina' standards, the supporting plant for growing pepper vines. "It is difficult to find a suitable replacement to this plant, around which pepper vines can easily creep up. "This fast growing tree, locally known as murikku, has almost disappeared," Gopi said.

While pepper output in Kerala is on the decline, market information was that the production was higher in Coorg in Karnataka and Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, both adjoining areas of Wayanad.