Curry leaves garnish farmers’ cash earnings

​Tadipatri (Anantapur): Taking cue from Peda Vadlapadu farmers of Guntur district, Yerraguntapalle farmers in Tadipatri mandal of Anantapur district have become self-reliant switching over to horticulture crops and excelled in curry leaf cultivation.

They are earning at least Rs 1 lakh per acre. They are exporting it to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kolkata markets. In the drought-hit Anantapur district, the farmers after experimenting with paddy and groundnut later switched over to curry leaf crop.

Yerriguntapalle has a population of 6000 with most of them engaged in curry leaf cultivation. Farmers of Peda Vadlapudi who tasted success in curry leaf production, ventured out to raise the crop in Yerraguntapalle because the soil in the village is black and fertile.

They encouraged the local farmers to raise curry leaf crop and provided them with market facility. The villagers have been cultivating the crop for the past 30 years. They are cultivating the crop in 1200 acres. The crop does not require much water. The cost of cultivation is very low. The curry leaf produced here has a shelf life of four or five days besides smelling good.

Once seeds are sown, farmers can harvest the crop for the next 30 years. The harvest will be good for at least six months in a year. To raise the crop, 200 kg of seeds are needed per acre. The crop is harvested three times in a year. The crop is harvested after four or five months of sowing the seeds. The field can be made wet once in a week or ten days using drip-irrigation. The farmers need to spend Rs 30,000 per acre.

The market prices depend on the season. A tonne of curry leaves fetch between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 during the period November to February. During March-July, a tonne fetches anything between Rs 4,000 and Rs 6,000. During August-October, a tonne of curry leaves fetch Rs 5,000.

Tadipatri market yard chairman Yugandhar told The Hans India that farmers have been cultivating the crop and the yield would be at least 10 tonnes for each harvest. Another farmer of the village Sriram Reddy said that villagers are reaping bumper harvest. The crop is exported to Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and other cities.

Another farmer from the village Narasimha Reddy said that he earns Rs 1 lakh depending on the season. He said that many villagers are finding employment in curry leaf gardens and declared that the villagers were not dependent on government for support.

He said that the traders would not lift the curry leaf if spots appear on the leaves during winter and hence the farmers should take precautions. The fragrance of curry leaf would be good if the crop were to be raised in soil which is free from chemical fertilisers.

The locals say that the cultivation of curry leaf would expand in the Tadipatri assembly constituency if the government provides market facility and encourages more farmers to take up cultivation of the curry leaf.