From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore: Mar 28: With roughly 3 million families of arecanut growers in the districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Kodagu, Shimoga, Chikmagalur,Tumkur, Davangere and Chitradurga in Karnataka as well as several districts of Kerala, Assam, Andaman and Nicobar islands dependent on arecanut for their livelihood, the recent Supreme Court judgement banning the sale of gutka in plastic sachets has come as a big blow.
In view of the enforcement of the Apex Court’s order from March 1 all over the country, trading in arecanut, popularly known as betelnut, has come to a virtual standstill in major arecanut trading markets in Karnataka, Kerala and parts of Assam.
The gutka industry, which largely uses arecanut as the main ingredient, has stopped purchasing arecanut in south India.
Consequently, the arecanut prices have come down sharply following the ban on the use of plastic by gutka manufacturers.
Areca prices crash from Rs 18k to Rs 10k
The prices of arecanut dropped to a three-year low of Rs 10,000 a quintal as against Rs 18,000 a quintal in December and January, a drop of 44.5 per cent.
The current prices are not economical for growers as they cannot even recover their cost of production.
In the event of the Supreme Court banning the manufacture of gutka itself, it is obvious that there will be no takers for our produce and lakhs of farmers will lose their livelihood in southern states
At present, the cost of cultivation of arecanut is Rs 14,000 to Rs 15,000 a quintal, while farmers can recover only 50 per cent if they sell at the price fixed by the Karnataka government.
As a result of the price crash, the State Government had announced Rs 7,500 a quintal as the support price and released a Rs 25-crore market intervention assistance.
Meanwhile, the State Government has sought Centre’s intervention to resolve the crisis and demanded fixing minimum support price of Rs 16,643 a quintal for the red variety arecanut and Rs 10,810 a quintal for the white variety arecanut.
However, the Central government is yet to take any steps in this regard.
Out of an estimated production of 600,000 metric tonnes in Karnataka, hardly 20 per cent is sold by farmers this year.
A large quantity is remains still unsold, leaving farmers in distress throughout the state, said A S Bhat, managing director, Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd (Campco), a Mangalore-based multi-state cooperative, which trades in arecanut.
A large number of farmers staged protest rallies across Karnataka recently and are planning to protest in Delhi soon.
As a mark of protest against the Apex Court’s order, the gutka manufacturers stopped purchasing arecanut from major markets in Karnataka like Sirsi, Shimoga and Mangalore and Kannur, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kochi in Kerala.
Campco files impleading petition in SC
Campco has already filed an impleading petition in the Supreme Court seeking deferment of the earlier order to ban the sale of gutka in plastic pouches.
There is a need to defer the implementation by one more year and in the interim find out an alternative method of packing gutka, Bhat said.
The Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has said the state government is also planning to engage a senior lawyer in the Supreme Court to file a review petition and assist the arecanut growers.
Karnataka is a leading producer of arecanut in the country and produces 600,000 metric tonnes annually from 572,000 acres.
As many as three million families are dependent on arecanut for livelihood in the districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Kodagu, Chikmagalur. Shimoga, Tumkur, Davangere and Chitradurga in Karnataka. Kerala, Assam, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar islands are the other major producers of arecanut in the country.