MIRPURKHAS, March 31: Chilli is one of the main crops of the country and if given proper care and support, the growers and traders can turn it into a major export crop, according to Kunri Red Chilli Merchant Association general secretary Musawir Ahmed Bhatti.

He told this correspondent that they needed a dehydrator system for drying chilli. Mr Bhatti said there was not a single dehydrator system in the country which is the main reasons its export lagged behind its potential. “If modern technology and facilities are provided to chilli growers, the crop could capture a sizeable place in the international market,” he said.

There are various varieties of chilli. But a unique variety is the “Dandi Kat Chilli”, which in local dialect called ‘Longi’ (stalk-less chilli), which grows only in Sindh. At the time of harvesting, only chilli is separated from the wood plant without its stalk, which is very rare. The crop grows in areas of lower Sindh comprising districts Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Hyderabad, Sanghar, and Tandoallahyar, and other a few parts of Sindh. The biggest chilli market in the country is in Kunri. It is a small town in District Umerkot famous for its “Kunri Chilli Market”.

Union council of Kunri constructed it 40 years ago. In the beginning there were 28 shops with a big large open space. Later, the Red Chilli Merchant Association of Kunri constructed eight more shops and a hotel and a mosque. The shops and the hotel were given on rent. The market has grown and now is spread on eight acres of land.

Chilli season starts from September 1 and lasts till middle of March.

Mr Bhatti said that their association was running the Kunri Chilli Market on a self-help basis. He said private staff had been hired by the association for the maintenance of the market.

He said that 80 paisa per bag of chilli was charged by the association to meet the market expenses. In the peak season, some 1200 to 1400 chilli bags arrive daily in the market.

He said different kinds of chillies arrived in market particularly Dandi Kut, Mexi and Sindhi Chilli.

He said the government’s Market Committee was not helpful to the association. It provides no help to improve the chilli markets and modernise their farming. He said farmers need modern equipments and technology to boost their production and to compete in international market.

He said the market committees in Sindh were only collecting funds while playing no role in resolving their problems. He regretted that the government was not giving proper attention to this sector.

In this regard he mentioned a big chilli market in India. Guntur Chilli Market is situated in West Bengal. The Indian government has installed a dehydrator system in the market which helps maintain the quality of chilli.

He informed that 0.15 million chilli bags arrived daily in the Guntur Chilli market in season. India acquires huge foreign exchange from chilli export, he added. He deplored Pakistan’s failure to compete in international market as major importers like the European countries, the US, and Japan did not import chilli from Pakistan. He said Pakistan exported chilli only to Srilanka, Bangladesh, Mexico and a few other countries.

Mentioning their main problem, he said that they did not have a drying plant or the dehydrator system for chilli in their markets. Explaining the process he said when the chilli arrives in the market merchants spread it on an open field to let it get dried.

But, during night, due to moisture, a fungus attacks the chilli and infects it, which raises the amount of a special chemical called Oflotoxion in chilli. Sometimes it increased to 80 per cent which is against international standards, he said.

He said the governments of the US, Japan and European countries gave special attention to their people’s health and they had fixed the level of Oflotoxion in chilli for its imports.

He said in Japan they permit import of chilli which contains only 10 per cent of the chemical while in the US they had fixed the amount at 20 per cent for its import.

“Having about 80 per cent of Oflotoxion chemical in our chilli we could not compete in international chilli market and despite producing a unique variety of chilli we are far behind in its export,” he said.

He said that there is great potential in its export and if the government installed the dehydrator system in Chilli markets particularly in Kunri, Jhuddo and in other chilli markets of Sindh then the exporters could compete in international market and gain access to the markets in European countries, the US and Japan as well.He urged the government to give proper attention to the important issue and help the associations of chilli markets so that in future the country could get more foreign exchange and boost its exports.