Madhya Pradesh: Khargone's red chillies to set European palate on fire

Khargone (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh state government’s One District One Product (ODOP) approach has started to show results. Dalki's farmer producer group (FPO) Teragleb in Khargone district has succeeded in exporting their chilli product abroad.

Delighted over their success, farmers said that they had cherished the dream of exporting chillies to foreign countries from the very beginning and their dream has now turned into reality as for the first time the chillies produced by the farmers are being exported abroad. They exported their harvest to European countries from Mumbai port.

Balkrishna Patidar, farmer and founder of TerraGleb FPO, said that this group, which was formed three years ago, had envisioned from the very beginning that their chillies should be exported abroad, so this is a big day for their success.

A total of 55 quintals (5.50 tonnes) of chillies from eight farmers of Dalki have been exported from Mumbai Port.

Harvest without using banned chemicals

Patidar told that it was not that easy for us. We first studied and found out why Khargone chillies are not being exported abroad despite being popular. One reason for this is the use of chemicals banned abroad. The farmers of Khargone use these chemicals in large quantities.

We started chilli cultivation in 500 acres with 62 farmers using IPM technology. Soil test was done to find out which elements were lacking in the soil and production started by augmenting the soil as per this technology.

Ten samples of 62 farmers were sent for testing to Aviti Lab in Kerala, in which eight samples passed, i.e chillies were found to be free from banned chemicals such as propinophos, trazophos, chlorpariphos, and monocrotophos apart from many othr chemicals.

These chemicals are banned in European countries and America and the excessive quantity of these chemicals in chillies of our district makes it impossible to export the chillies to these countries. TerraGleb Group is providing facilities to farmers from technology to market. It is providing various facilities to the farmers from soil testing to seeds as well as technology to be used in various crops and to make them available to the market and traders to get good prices.

Agricultural equipment is also being made available to the farmers on rent. Along with this, the group has also provided drones to the farmers for spraying pesticides. Some farmers are also preparing seeds of crops like arhar, onion and moong through the group.

Making of an FPO

Five years back, the Department of Horticulture and Agriculture started efforts to make FPOs of farmers.

Senior horticulture extension officer PS Badole said that, for this, separate workshops were organised for different activities.

Visits and training were also organised at other places including Guntur. Field visits and discussions were held with the farmers by inviting experts from outside for technical knowledge. There was hesitation among the farmers due to the absence of such a practice in Khargone. Huge efforts were made to remove the hesitation. This FPO has been made by following all the guidelines prepared by the government. Exporting the crop abroad augurs well for the future.

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