Silvester D’ Souza

Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (EP)

Kundapur, Dec 15: Shivamogga MP B Y Raghavendra spoke about the issues faced by areca nut growers during the zero hour of Lok Sabha session on Thursday. He said that the cess on imported areca nuts should be raised  and a scientific pesticide for leaf spot disease should be found out soon.

The nuts are being grown in more than ten states including Karnataka. It is grown in more than 16 districts of Karnataka. More than ten lac families are dependent on it in Karnataka. Karnataka is producing more than 69% of areca out of 16,50,000 metric tonnes grown in the country valued at Rs 8,250 crores. The government earns a huge amount of money by way of GST levy and cess on it, he said.

The growers are in a pitiable condition. The price of the nuts that was Rs 58,000 per quintal in September first week has plummeted to Rs 39,000 per quintal during the second week of December. The farmers are anxious because of that, he said.

He urged the Centre to prevent illegal trading of areca nut.