It’s 10 a.m. on Monday, and Basavaraj Navale, who works for the commission agent Basavaraj M. Chatrad, is busy assessing the quality of the chilli kept for auction at the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) yard in Byadgi. Grabbing a handful of chilli pods from the lots containing several bags, he assesses the quality and jots down a few numbers on the notepad he is carrying while an aide opens the gunny bags to show him the pods kept for auction.
Like Basavaraj, there are scores of people with notepads going around the single commodity market yard dedicated to red dry chilli, which is spread over 78 acres in Byadgi town of Haveri district in north Karnataka. The newcomers start sneezing as they pass amid the bags, inhaling the pungent odour, while the likes of Basavaraj, accustomed to the odour, go about their work nonchalantly.
