Turmeric growers urge stricter control, but no to suspension from future’s market

Patil in his letter said that turmeric as a commodity is grown across Marathwada, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and few other states. The product is exported and thus farmers command good returns. The crop is grown for nearly 7 to 9 months and then stored in warehouses. Farmers pledge their crop in the future’s platform of NCDEX and sell their crop later. This allows them to get better prices and also prevent speculative or last-minute trades in the physical market.

Post the August incident, a group of traders especially in Nanded have demanded that the commodity be removed from the future’s platform of the exchange. They have argued that in want of proper quality assurance, their business has suffered. However, Patil and other farmers have strongly opposed the move. ‘’As soon as the demand came, the prices of the turmeric saw a 10-15 per cent dip. The new crop is yet to be harvested but the price drop is still on,’’ he said. Patil went on to say that in large parts of the state, turmeric crop has reported damage due to the heavy rains both in August and September. “The initial estimate is that the crop would be 10 percent lesser than normal, yet prices have not risen,” he said.

Turmeric would be the latest agri commodity, which has faced the call to be barred from the future’s market. Soyabean has been taken off the future’s market for more than 4 years which has seen protests from various farm groups. On the future’s platform of NCDEX, farmers tend to see the future price prospects of a commodity and “pledge’’ to sell the same at a certain time frame. In case the trade is not physically deliverable, farmers or the traders have to pay a small fine to exit the same. The future’s price trends have been used by farmers to decide on their cropping calendar.