Sambalpur: Ashutosh Kulkarni, the executive officer of Rairakhol notified area council (NAC) in Sambalpur district, Thursday applied for geographical indication (GI) tag for popular green chilly of Kuchinda.
According to the bureaucrat, traders from Kuchinda and outside buy huge quantities of green chilly produced in the sub-division for its good quality. “If GI tag is accorded, then demand for the local produce would go up, which will help fetch a fair price,” the official said.
Farmers of Kuchinda primarily grow green chilli and it is cultivated on 7,845 hectare of farmlands, during both kharif and rabi crop seasons. Nearly 12,000 local farmers earn their livelihood from this crop.
Also read: ACF Soumya’s wife Bidyabharati appears her final exams
Green chillies are sold for Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500 per quintal. In order to make the farmers self-sufficient, a chilly-powder making plant was earlier set up in Kuchinda. Self-help group (SHG) women members have been managing the plant, ORMAS district coordinator Srimanta Hota informed.
A private agency has been engaged to prepare a detailed report on the quality of green chillies, number of farmers cultivating the crop, demand-supply analysis, farming procedures and likes.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Kuchinda sub-division is a non-irrigated region. After local farmers faced frequent droughts owing to scanty rainfall, the erstwhile ruler of Bamanda Basudev Sudhal Deo thought of an alternative crop for sustainable farming in 1909. Subsequently, chilly farming was widely adopted by farmers.
PNN
