Farmers may get highest price of their brinjal produce in September in the forthcoming season. This forecast has been made by Pantvarsity scientists under a research project.
This World Bank-funded National Agriculture Innovation Project “Establishing and Networking of Agricultural Market Intelligence Centers in India” is under progress at Agricultural Economic department of the University. One of the objectives of this project is to make price forecast well in advance of sowing of selected agricultural commodities and during harvesting.
The research team of Pantvarsity had conducted market survey of Haldwani regulated market, a major market for brinjal in the Uttarakhand and analyzed the market prices data which prevailed for last 23 years in this market. The results of econometric analysis showed that the wholesale prices of brinjal in Haldwani market would be in the range of Rs 600-700 per quintal in the month of September 2013 and Rs 500 and 600 per quintal during October 2013, and in November, 2013 it would range between Rs 400 and 500 per quintal.
The scientists have advised farmers to take harvesting decision keeping in mind above price forecast. India ranks second with respect to area and production of brinjal in the world and contribute around 27 percent of the world’s production. This crop is grown in over 6 lakh hectares in India. The yield rate per hectare in India is quite low and stands at 18 tonnes per hectare as compared to Japan and Italy where it ranges around 25 tonnes per hectare.
Major Brinjal growing states in the country are West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which together account for about 94 percent of India’s production. In case of Uttarakhand, brinjal is mainly grown in plains. It is grown in an area of 1685 hectares in the State.
Dehradun, Haridwar, Udhamsinghnagar and Nainital are the four major districts producing brinjal and constitute about 60 percent of the total production in the State during 2012. In Uttarakhand, the peak arrival of round brinjal in market in October-November even though it starts arriving in market in August and lasts up to January.