The king of spice is very much in demand today as one kg of black pepper is sold at Rs 600 per kg while the rate for white pepper is Rs 850 per kg.
About 100 hectares of area is under cultivation of this creeper in the whole of Canacona taluka in areas like Poinguinnim and parts of Khola, Loliem and others pockets of Canacona, says Shivram Gaonkar, zonal agriculture officer (ZAO). It is mostly grown where there are more areaca nut and coconut plantations. To promote pepper about 4000-5000 pepper-cuttings have been sold out to interested farmers at Rs 15-20 per cutting, said Gaonkar. He added that for the last two years a new variety of pepper graft of Paniyur-7 variety has been also been sold to farmers which gives more yield and the rate is Rs 35 per graft.
From April 2015 till date, the Goa Bhgayatdar, Canacona, purchased total 11,896 kg of pepper from the farmers, added Gaonkar. Farmers can get better price if they produce white pepper for which a new machine has already been launched and which has been purchased by some farmers. One of the new machine is purchased by farmer Chinmay Tanshikar, from Neturlim who is a biggest cultivator of white pepper in the area.
In Canacona the leading producers are F Y Prabhugaonkar, Manohar Tengse, Amol Tengse and Jairam Tengse. The post- harvest procedure for white pepper is very simple, according to Gaonkar. After plucking the matured pepper one has to keep it in a bag in running water for 10-12 days or if a farmer uses a barrel, the water has to be constantly changed. This white pepper fetches better price in the market than the black pepper, Gaonkar added.
The National Horticulture Mission provides subsidy of Rs 12000 per hectare of land for pepper cultivation. To control the disease, this office is providing Trichoderma Viride fungus and free demonstration to farmers how to protect their plants. When asked how to control pest at root the ZAO said that this reporter asked the ZAO of how to control the pest at the root he said that the root portion has to be kept dry with less moisture to protect the weed.