Wayanad: While the price of ginger touched an all-time high of Rs 13,500 per 60 kg sack in various parts of Karnataka on Tuesday, rather than joy, it was a spell of despair for thousands of ginger farmers from Kerala who did not keep the harvest on hold for a few months due to financial compulsions.

The price for ginger in Wayanad was around Rs 10,000 on July 4. Starting at Rs 12,000 in the morning, as there was no product in the market, the price crossed the highest mark by afternoon, as traders went for aggressive buying to meet the demand of the day, said representatives of farmers and traders. In the corresponding period last year, the price was below Rs 2,000 per sack.

The price crash of cash crops in Wayanad resulted in large-scale migration of farmers first to the adjacent Coorg district of Karnataka and then further to the entire expanse of unpolluted farmlands in Karnataka.

The water-rich regions ideal for ginger farming provided a refuge for thousands of hapless farmers from Kerala. Not only farmers of the high ranges of Malabar but also the lucky 'ginger-charmed' high-profile professionals including doctors, advocates, and techies who also had invested huge sums in ginger cultivation. But alas, most of them backed out when the ‘sweet’ ginger turned ‘sour’, leaving the ground free for traditional farmers.

This year, with the rumor mills buzzing with stories of farmers turning crorepatis, the farmers here lamented that 'only a few, that is also less than 50 in number, were lucky while the debt-ridden majority are still groping in the dark as during the last four years ginger proved bitter for all'.

Though the farmers from the state are spread over the entire water-rich regions of Karnataka, the majority of Malayali farmers have their farms in Coorg, Shivamogga, Hassan, Chamaraj Nagar, Chikmagalur, and Hubli regions.

Dip in cultivation area
According to Navarang Mohanan, president of All India Ginger Farmers Association, the price fall continuously for four years had resulted in a dip in the total number of farmers engaged in ginger farming from more than 30,000 four years ago to just over 10,000 now. “There is also a sharp decline in area under ginger cultivation which also resulted in the present acute shortage of ginger in the market,” he added.

“Only a few farmers were able to retain the crop as most of them harvested when prices touched the Rs 5,000 mark a few months ago, fearing a downfall,” Mohanan said. “Even among the lucky ones only a 5% would be able to enjoy a profit as the majority are neck-deep in debt,” he said, adding, “now it is a five-year cycle, you have to suffer loss for four consecutive years and you will get a bumper price for the fifth year as majority would back out.”

However, it is a fact that a few farmers who remained were lucky this season; with a 10-acre ginger harvest with an average crop of 300 sacks per acre earning (Rs 13,500 per sack) more than Rs 4 crore. There are resourceful farmers who had kept the harvest on hold for 10 acres to 100 acres of land expecting a high price.

Considering cost escalation it's only ‘just price’
Hinting at rising cultivation costs, Mohanan said with labour and fertiliser costs registering a manifold rise in rates, at present the cost of cultivation per acre is Rs 5 to 6 lakh. “With an average harvest of 300 sacks per acre, to get a marginal profit for the farmer the prices should go over Rs 2,000,” he said, adding that last year the highest price registered was a mere Rs 2,300, that too only for a few days.

“There were times when we had to sell the crop for a price as low as Rs 400 per sack,” he he pointed out and added: “Only the fittest of fighters survived the hostile market and extreme climatic conditions.”

“Going by the current cost of production this is not a high price”, said Ranjan Sami, of Meenangadi who has been in ginger farming for more than 25 years. “In 2003, we had received Rs 3,000 per sack which was also a huge price as production cost was much lower those days,” he said. Then the wages were just Rs 30-50 for women and Rs 60-70 for men.

“Now the wages are much higher with Rs 300-500 for women and men, respectively,” he pointed out. “The cost of fertilisers, the lease rate for land, travel and transportation expenses, all registered a steady increase,” he said. Then the total cost for cultivating 1-acre land was around Rs 1 lakh which has now increased up to Rs 6 lakh,” he said. "So we are happy this time that a few among us would be able to settle their debts and only very few of us would have some profit to save for future,” he added.

The Ginger farmers from Wayanad had hit headlines earlier when they had ventured into farming in distant villages of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, and Jharkhand. In 2015, when ginger prices crossed the Rs 11,000 mark, buoyed by the excitement, many farmers and labourers from Wayanad had flown down to far-flung Raipur airport. The labourers and ginger seeds followed them by road. There were more than 200 farmers who explored luck in the soil of distant lands, thousands of kilometres away from the homeland. Most of them stayed there for months, rarely visiting their families back home. Cheap labour and fertile land were the major attractions. Now while the prices are soaring, many are already flocking to Chhattisgarh exploring possibilities of resuming farming, a source said.