Turmeric area seen rising upto 35 pc on price rally.

MUMBAI: A surge in turmeric prices and forecast of normal monsoon may prompt Indian farmers to increase acreage under the spice by up to 35 percent in 2010/11, industry players said.

"If rains come on time, area will increase significantly this year. If we see a bad monsoon like last year, then also farmers will take all possible measures to save their remunerative crop," said Punam Chand Gupta, an exporter based in Nizamabad. "Area may rise by 35 percent."

India's monsoon rains are forecast to be normal at 98 percent of the long-period average. The weather department expects the monsoon to arrive in the south-western state of Kerala by end-May. In Nizamabad, a key spot market in southern Andhra Pradesh state, the price has risen 316 percent since May 2008 on lower output.

"The output may touch 6.0-6.5 million bags, in case monsoon favors throughout the season," said Harish Galipelli, head of research at JRG Wealth Management. In 2009/10 the country produced 4.65 million bags of turmeric, a Reuters poll of seven traders and exporters showed.

India is the world's biggest producer, exporter and consumer of the yellow spice. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in the south and the western state of Maharashtra are major turmeric producers. "I will sow turmeric in 3 acres of land against 2 acres last year. There is no other crop which can give such a high return," said Sunil Maheshwari, a farmer based in Basmat in Hingoli district of Maharashtra.

Attractive prices may lure some new farmers to switch to turmeric while the traditional turmeric cultivators are certain to raise acreage, analysts and traders said. Good rainfall over the cultivating belt during mid-June to mid-July may boost acreage, they said.

Turmeric cultivation usually starts in the last week of May and continues till August, and a lengthy harvesting process begins from January. However, farmers with irrigation facilities in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have started cultivation as early as the first week of May.

Source : The Economic Times