Sirsi: There is a good news for pepper growers. They need not worry about scarcity of labourers to harvest their crop in time and process it.

A pepper processing and grading machine has been installed at Kadamba Marketing Co-operative Society here for the purpose.

The machine processes the crop in hours, as against days if done manually. This is for the first time a co-operative society has installed such a machine for the benefit of farmers.

The machine has the capacity to process and grade eight quintals of pepper an hour. The machine has been installed at a cost of Rs 63 lakh. So far 35 farmers have processed 250 quintals of pepper. The machine has capacity to improve the quantity of pepper, according to Kadamba Marketing Manager Vishweshwar Bhat.

Highest quality

“The Pepper produced in the district are of highest quality. However, importing countries and other states in the country seek grading of pepper. Those crops which have been graded get best prices,” he said.

The modern machine has the capacity to differentiate the size of crop from rest. The machine can also separate black pepper from light colour pepper, he added.

He said traders will look for alternative sources if farmers fail to provide pepper when there is a demand in the market. Though pepper produced in district is of high quality, farmers used to lose out as they were not able to process or grade the crop.

Earlier, farmers used to depend on processing units in Kerala. Many farmers used to back out, as they could not travel far, fetching them lesser price for their produce. The issue will now be addressed to greater extent, he said.

Soon, farmers may start exporting their produce to several European countries and the USA.

The co-operative society is charging Rs 200 per qunital of grading, he said.