Districtwise production and productivity of turmeric in Kerala

Production and Productivity of Turmeric in Karnataka
Karnataka state produced turmeric in less quantity and contributed only around 4 percent of total production of turmeric in the country. Though it had produced a small quantity, growth in both area and production were found to be significant atone percent level. This indicated that the farmers perceived the high profitability of turmeric production but they were not encouraged or helped by the spice producing and marketing agencies. The problem in Karnataka has been the lack of proper marketing facility. Most of the north
Karnataka farmers go to Sangli market (Maharastra state) for selling their produce. The middlemen and the pre- harvest contractors exploited the farmers and in turn the farmers were discouraged due to less profit. The product being bulky and majority of the farmers being small and marginal they find it extremely difficult to dispose off the produce. The lack of knowledge regarding marketing of their product was also one of the main problem to the farmers, which made them to sell their product to middlemen and pre-harvest contractors. The regulated markets in the state were not working properly due to the reason that this crop was produced throughout the state, but in small quantity, that too season bound. The productivity was highly unstable and the regulated markets were unable to help the turmeric growing farmers in that situation. The growth rate of productivity was not significant, the possible reasons might be the lack of improved technologies and location specific varieties. As the seed rhizome plays an important role in case of productivity, every year farmers have to change the seed material. But, there was no seed-producing agency for turmeric in the state. The certified seed had to be imported from other states such as Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu and hence, the seed material becomes costly because of its bulkiness. About 10,000 kg of mother rhizome or 800 kg of finger rhizome was required for one acre. In such a situation one cannot expect the small and marginal farmers to afford the transport and seed costs. As a consequence, the farmers used the same seed material for several years. This maybe also one of the reasons for the lower growth in the case of productivity and hence the total production over the study period. District wise production unavailable)

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