Farmers take out jatha urging the Centre to prevent smuggling inferior quality of arecanut into country

Dakshina Kannada farmers protest smuggling of inferior arecanut, urge government to take strict measures to prevent it.

Farmers under the auspices of Dakshina Kannada Raita Sanghagala Okkuta (Dakshina Kannada Federation of Farmers’ Associations) took out a jatha (procession) from B.C. Road to Mangaluru on Thursday, March 7, urging the Union government to prevent smuggling inferior quality of arecanut into the country.

Later, they staged a protest in front of the office of Deputy Commissioner.

In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister through the Deputy Commissioner, the convener of the federation Sunny D’Souza said that inferior quality of arecanut smuggled from abroad is mixed with the quality arecanut grown in the country, especially in the coastal belt of Karnataka. If the trend continues, prices of arecanut in the domestic market will fall. Hence, the government should take stringent measures to curb the illegal routing of arecanut into the country.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Mr. D’Souza alleged that arecanut is being smuggled into the country from Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar.

He said that arecanut is the major commercial crop of Dakshina Kannada. Quality arecanut cultivated in the district is in demand not only from different parts of the country but also from abroad. Since the farmers have been maintaining the fertility of the soil, it has been possible to cultivate quality arecanut. When low-quality arecanut smuggled into the country is mixed with the quality arecanut and sold, the demand will naturally fall thus affecting domestic farmers.

Mr. D’Souza said that the government should provide an incentive of ₹25,000 per acre to such farmers whose arecanut plantations have been hit by leaf spot disease. If farmers ended their lives the government should provide a compensation of ₹25 lakh to each of their families. The government should enhance the limit of farm loans disbursed through cooperative societies to ₹5 lakh.

The federation also demanded waiver of farm loans availed by farmers.