KARACHI: Sindh’s chilli farmers have cut 50 percent of their losses on selling 600 tons of their produce online under the Sindh Agriculture Growth Programme, a World Bank-funded project.
Farmers receive higher prices on the platform as chillies sold through this project meet the international aflatoxin permissible level. Online chili trading through this project started in 2016. This is its third year, stakeholders said.
Dr Fateh Marri, project coordinator, Sindh Agriculture Growth Project, told The News that aflatoxin is produced when chillies are dried on the ground. “They should rather be dried on green sheets. Growers are being given 70 percent subsidy on baskets used for collecting chillies while they receive Rs1,000 extra as quality premium on their consignments,” he said.
In Sindh, chillies are grown on an area of 38.4 thousand hectares with production of 80,000 tons. Sindh contributes around 85 percent to red chilli production in Pakistan.
The average yield of 1.7 tons per hectare contributes 1.5 percent to the country’s GDP. Kunri, a small town of Umerkot is called the home of red chillies that contributes more than 80 percent to the country’s red chilli production. Pakistan is the fourth largest producer of red chillies after India, China and Mexico.
Unfortunately, half of the red chillies are wasted due to contamination and aflatoxin. The growers are now learning about better agricultural practices under a World Bank-funded Sindh agriculture growth programme.
An officer of a warehouse provider in Kunri said hundreds of tons of the crop have been sold so far and the farmers have received their payments. Otherwise, such payments were delayed or reduced for one or the other reason in traditional marketing.
“We have to encourage even small growers to get involved in it and derive maximum benefits,” he said, adding that if small farmers were not able to meet the required tonnage of the crop, they could join hands with neighbouring landowners to meet the minimum weight requirement to sell their produce.
The agriculture growth programme aims to improve yields and reduce aflatoxin contamination in the chilli crop. It will also improve food safety of the crop for the domestic market, and facilitate exports, improve incomes and earn foreign exchange for the country. Rehabilitation and up gradation of the Kunri chilli research station in district Umerkot would also be financed.
In addition, technology packages for reducing aflatoxin contamination through introducing polyester drying mats, along with similar sheets to cover the crop to prevent dew formation on the harvested crop are provided to famer and grower associations on 30 percent cost-sharing bases.
The project facilitates a public-private partnership involving the Chilli Growers Association to establish a common facility centre in Kunri.
The interventions should increase the productivity by 30 percent, and reduce the aflatoxin level by 50 percent in 20 percent of the crop. About 31,020 farmers would be trained in best farming practices under this programme.
This project is also designed to eliminate middlemen and establish direct online links between farmers and buyers of red chillies.
Companies that are dealing with growers directly include some known spice producers of the country. One such company has so far procured around 200,000 kilogram of the crop.
“Previously, we didn’t think of getting even 1kg of the crop according to our specifications, but now we have started getting better produce. We have ourselves set up a mobile laboratory and an office to guide and educate the chilli growers so that they learn how to deal with the harvested crop,” said a company’s procurement officer.
The growers also look satisfied with the mode of payment, as the money is transferred into their accounts on time. They are, however, worried about the minimum transaction volume that is set in tons, as small farmers cannot become a part of this online trading despite having the required variety and standard of the crop.
Red Chilli Growers Association representative Mian Saleem pointed out that growers have started understanding the difference between old and current farming practices. “The growers will be happy if this project covers international buyers as well. The trading is currently limited to domestic buyers.”
Saleem said state-of-the-art training was provided to the chilli farmers under this project. “We never thought to meet the European and American standards, but now we are meeting such standards,” he added, “We are saving a major portion of crop from spoiling through new practices.”
The crop’s specifications are assessed through samples that are analysed in a laboratory set up by one of the project’s partners.
The defined quality-wise grading of these samples is posted on the website of the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange for registered buyers to place their purchase orders. Once a buyer finalises his deal, his payment is transferred to the grower’s account within two working days. Unlike conventional marketing practice, the sellers don’t have to wait for payment or unnecessary deductions.
The crop is dispatched along with one sealed laboratory-tested sample of the commodity to the collection centre, and the buyer can compare it with the result posted on the exchange’s website. Any issue related to the quality of the crop is referred to an arbitration committee. The stakeholders expressed that the tonnage condition can be replaced with weight in kilograms so that the growers can prepare their bags accordingly. The project’s business-related matters are approved by the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.