Khammam (Telangana): Tension prevailed in the Khammam Agricultural Market Yard on Friday after some unidentified persons damaged office and torched the chilli stock, police said.

Farmers had brought chilli to the market yard hoping to sell the produce for a better price. However, after the price dipped below the expected level they started agitating, said police. "Some unidentified persons vandalised the market yard office and damaged the furniture. We are not sure whether that was done by farmers. Situation is under control now. We are investigating the matter," Khammam superintendent of police Ganesh said. The farmers in the state are demanding better price for chilli as the price has dipped to around Rs 6,000 per quintal this season as against Rs 12,000 per quintal last year.

According to a senior official from the Telangana marketing department, bumper production of chilli coupled with slackening exports has resulted in drop in the price. Telangana produced nearly 7 million tonnes of chilli this year against 6.1 million last year. The actual area of production has also gone up by almost 25 per cent to 30 per cent due to good weather conditions, the official said. "We (Telangana) consume about 15 per cent of the total production. Rest is sold in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh markets. As those states also witnessed bumper crop this year, demand has gone down resulting in reduction in the price," the marketing department official said. He said, there is no minimum support price for chilli.

Senior Telugu Desam Party leader and MLA from the district, Sandra Venkata Veeraiah demanded that the state government provide relief to the chilli farmers by buying the commodity.