Coriander yields rich dividends for some farmers

  • | Friday | 11th January, 2019

“Usually, in the winter months, we get around 2.5 lakh coriander bunches daily,” said Sanjay Kale, the chairman of the Narayangaon market, putting a figure on the volume of shortage.At the Pune APMC market, the officials reported getting just 1 lakh coriander bunches every day against the usual supply of 2.5-3 lakh bunches. Junnar is about 92km from here on the Nashik highway.Kute said this year has been exceptional. “In the past decade, I have never got such good returns from coriander. Many farmers could not grow several vegetables because of a water shortage. “In January, a bunch of coriander usually sells for Rs 3-5.

PIMPRI PENDHAR (JUNNAR): In these trying times for farmers, the humble coriander has proven to be a moneyspinner for those with a modicum of gumption.“I have hit the jackpot,” said Savleram Nana Kute, who made Rs 13.5 lakh in just a week’s time from selling the coriander he had grown on his 8-acre farm in Pimpri Pendhar village . All this from an investment of just Rs 2lakh.At a time when sugar cane and onion cultivators are struggling to make adequate returns from their produce, some farmers in the Junnar tehsil are making a killing from coriander thanks to the demand-supply mismatch for the herb caused by extreme cold conditions and a paucity of water. Junnar is about 92km from here on the Nashik highway.Kute said this year has been exceptional. “In the past decade, I have never got such good returns from coriander. For the past two years, I have been growing tomatoes, leafy vegetables and summer fruits like watermelon and muskmelon, but I never made so much money due to the low prices in the market. In fact, a few months ago, I had to throw away hundreds of crates of tomato due to market fluctuations and suffered heavy losses,” he said.Like Kute, many coriander farmers have made good profits from the high prices their produce is fetching due to the demand-supply gap this year. Reports from the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) at Narayangaon and Pune reveal that the kitchen staple, which usually sells for Rs 5-10 a bunch, is now commanding between Rs 30 and Rs 50.Kamlakar Wajge, a farmer from Narayangaon who is also a commission agent, earned Rs 2 lakh from the coriander harvest. “Vegetable production shortage is unusual during the winter. But this year, the scenario is different. Many farmers could not grow several vegetables because of a water shortage. Now, there is a gap in demand and supply. This has resulted in an unprecedented price escalation for coriander in the market.”Satish Dombale, from Otur, who made Rs1lakh in a week, added, “I had cultivated coriander on 20 gunthas of land. I faced losses with all the other vegetables I had grown last year. But coriander has saved me. I can now use this capital to grow more vegetables in the coming months.”According to the Narayangaon APMC data, in the past 10 days, it has received around 1.5 lakh coriander bunches every day from Junnar, Shirur, Ambegaon and Khed tehsils. “Usually, in the winter months, we get around 2.5 lakh coriander bunches daily,” said Sanjay Kale, the chairman of the Narayangaon market, putting a figure on the volume of shortage.At the Pune APMC market, the officials reported getting just 1 lakh coriander bunches every day against the usual supply of 2.5-3 lakh bunches. “In January, a bunch of coriander usually sells for Rs 3-5. But over the past fortnight, a bunch is selling for Rs 25-30,” said a senior APMC official.Talking of the possible cause for the low production, Rajaram Deshmukh, former vice-chancellor of the Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, said, “Growth of vegetables is affected when the temperature drops below 10°C. In recent times, the night temperatures have been low. This must have adversely impacted the vegetable harvest.”

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