Red hot Byadgi chilli stings farmers as prices fall

Police conduct routine route marches in Byadgi APMC yard amid concerns over falling red chilli prices.

It’s Thursday noon at the APMC yard in Byadgi and police sub-inspector Arvind P.S. is giving instructions to police personnel about the first of the two route marches to be taken out in the market yard. A little later, the yard reverberates with the siren of the police vehicles which take the designated road of the route march. Farmers wait beside their heaps of bags of red chillis and look on anxiously.

“Don’t worry, it is a routine exercise,” Kanthesh, who works for a commission agent at the market yard, comforts an anxious farmer. The vehicles are back at the APMC office after the route march and the personnel stand guard at vantage points. The exercise is repeated after 3 p.m.

In the market spread across 78 acres in Byadgi town of Haveri district in north Karnataka, the route march is taken out twice on Mondays and Thursdays when the chilli market is open. The Byadgi variety of chilli is known the world over for its colour and unique flavour.

This has been the practice since March 11, 2024, the day when the APMC (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee) office was torched and a few vehicles, including a fire engine, were gutted, says a policeman on duty, as several others, including a few who suffered minor injuries during the violence, keep vigil. The APMC office now wears a new look after a fresh coat of paint.

At a distance, sitting under the shade and standing by the roadside, first-time visitors to the market are being told tales of the violent protest a year ago, and the subsequent arrests and losses.

Meanwhile, unmindful of the siren, Basavaraj Navale, who works for the commission agents, and trader B.M. Chatrad are busy assessing the quality of the chilli kept for auction. The likes of Basavaraj, who are scattered over the big yard, have already completed the assessment of the quality of the chilli pods and have written down the bids for each lot they assessed. Traders and commission agents Basavaraj Chatrad and Malatesh Chatrad too are busy doing the same. However, their work is limited to the lots in the open space before their office.

Nothing much seems to have changed after the violence in the Byadgi APMC yard a year ago over the sudden dip in prices of different varieties of red chillis.