Chennai, Jul 24 (IANS): Chilly farmers in Ramanathapuram have urged the Tamil Nadu government to promote fertilizer-free, organic chilly cultivation as buyers in international markets are insisting on organic chilly.

K.R. Kusalan, a farmer in Ramanathapuram told IANS that he had cultivated Samba chilly in his farms as also in leased agricultural land and had exported 100 tonnes to the United States and German markets. He said that there were stringent checks on whether it was fertilizer free and organically produced chilly. The farmer said that if he had not shifted to organic farming, the chilly consignment would have been rejected leading to huge losses. Kusalan said that farmers have to be made aware about such issues and urged the government to promote organic farming.

Ramanathapuram farmers are getting benefits from Samba and Mundu chilly cultivation. A farmer told IANS that there is an increase in the chilly cultivation area as the prices and demand for chilly in both international and domestic markets have gone up. V.R. Krishnaswamy, a chilly farmer, said that the government should immediately address the issue of storage and processing centres to facilitate and increase the volume of chilly to be exported from the district. The prices of two popular varieties of chilly –Samba and Mundu , have consistently been Rs 200 per kilogram and farmers are not at a loss by doing chilly cultivation. There are more than six storage facilities in the district as well as one cold storage.

Farmers said that while there is interest in Mundu chilly which has a GI tag, business is done mostly in Samba chilly. Dried Samba chilly is being exported in good volumes to international markets including the United States, Germany and the Middle East. The farmers also want more cold storage facilities in the district to be executed under the agriculture department of the state. Private cold storages in the district, according to farmers, are charging more.