Antony Crasta, Mangalore/Sydney, Australia

Good move by the Karnataka Government. The Areca farmers in the State have been suffering for a long time due to inadequate and improper pricing of the arecanut, and some farmers were on the verge of quitting the cultivation altogether, and this announcement of support price will enable, at least some of them, to sustain themselves economically, for the time being. It has been on record that due to various reasons - short supply and expensive farming labour, high cost of fertilizers, inadequate water availability due to insufficient and irregular rains, cost of eradicating the jungle weed/grass problem that has cropped up recently, and last but not least, the inadequate pricing structure of the areca that was in place has not been helpful to the farmers at all to sustain themselves. The delegations led by Campco President Konkodi Padmanabha and also Mangalore South MLA Yogish Bhat, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and CDA Chairman B N Shetty are to be complimented in this regard, and I would urge to pursue the matter further with the Government till they achieve a satisfactory pricing structure.

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