News
Farmers’ lack of know-how and off season for ginger send prices soaring
View(s):- Impact of ginger imports ban also responsible for status quo, says expert
By Senuka Jayakody
Ginger prices are peaking as a consequence of farmers lacking knowledge on how to meet demand as well as the rhizome now being off-season.
The high prices are due to high demand but low production, said Additional Director General (Research) of the Department of Export Agriculture Dr. H. Subasinghe. This is also considered off-season in ginger cultivation. Harvesting is usually from November to April and it takes nine months to grow.
Ginger is going for Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 3,000 per kg in the Dambulla Dedicated Economic Centre. 
“Some farmers are harvesting now although the best production can be expected only if harvested at the right time,” he said. He expected prices to drop only by December since farmers were now harvesting immature ginger to be exported.
But the Dambulla Dedicated Economic Centre Traders Association said the prevailing price increase was abnormal. “When ginger imports were banned, prices went up and farmers took to cultivating ginger,” said the association’s secretary I. G Wijenanda, who has ginger farms in Matale and Kurunegala. “It caused a huge fall in prices causing many losses by the end of 2021.”
Therefore, the farmers did not grow ginger, causing an abnormal increase in prices, as is evident. “The current prices are good for the ginger farmers who are harvesting now,”
Mr. Wijenanda pointed out, adding that the ginger seeds also became more expensive owing to a shortage.
Despite high prices in Colombo, it is not so for the rest of the island, maintained Chairman of the National Agrarian Unity Anuradha Tennakon: “Ginger farmers are not receiving any profit since prices of ginger seeds are also high.”
Both the off-season and the impact of the ginger imports ban are responsible for the status quo, said Senior Researcher at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute Duminda Priyadharshana.
He criticised the lack of planning in the
ginger industry with farmers cultivating
according to “trends” instead of relying on information obtainable through the Internet and awareness programmes.
“Even when farmers are well-informed, we don’t see them making use of the information, he said. But price vagaries impact farmers more than they do consumers (who don’t typically buy large quantities of ginger), he asserted.
“Much effort goes into cultivation and the farmers are not sure of the output until harvesting since ginger grows underground,” said Mr. Priyadharshana. Therefore, there was a higher tendency among ginger farmers to react to market prices.
“With the prevailing prices and with cultivation now starting, a kilogram of ginger will not even cost half of this by December or January,” he pointed out. But the Government could also not get directly involved as there was no mechanism to purchase ginger. Farmers sell indirectly in the open market. He suggested a system whereby ginger could be Lack of stored and released to the market in stages.
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