Pepper output declines this season on weather woes

Pepper production of this season seen decline due to drought in pepper growing region last year.

Seasons Harvesting of pepper, which is grown in the Western Ghats and coastal regions of Karnataka and Kerala is seen coming to an end.

Vishwanath KK, Co-ordinator of the Consortium of Pepper Growers’ Organisations, told BusinessLine that though the growers were estimating around 65,000-70,000 tonnes for the current season, they may end up harvesting around 55,000-60,000 tonnes.

B Gopalakrishna Bhat, a pepper grower from Kasaragod district of Kerala, said that there was no rainfall in May last year, and the flowering was not that good in his area. This had affected pepper production. He opined that the production will be 30 per cent less compared to that of the previous year.

Source: BusinessLine