Areca growers in Karnataka experienced a rude shock recently when traders in north India rejected truckloads of their produce, citing poor quality. This hit the areca price in the market by nearly ₹10,000 per quintal. The growers, who were expecting returns up to ₹58,000 per quintal, are now selling their produce for around ₹47,000 per quintal.
Karnataka is the largest areca-growing State. The demand for nuts, particularly from the hilly Malnad region, is traditionally highest in north India, particularly in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. The agriculture economy of many districts in the Malnad region and central Karnataka depend on areca cultivation.
When the produce was rejected, co-operative bodies of areca marketing in the Malnad region appealed to both the growers and traders to prioritise quality. The rejections have led to a war of words between the growers and traders.
The growers blame the traders. They allege that the traders mix different varieties of nuts and send loads of these to buyers in north India in the hope of higher returns.
Areca nuts are categorised as Nuli, Hasa, Rashi, Bette and Gorabalu depending on their look and feel, the experience of biting into them, their aroma, and so on. Nuli and Hasa are top quality nuts and are highly valued. Gorablu is of inferior quality.
According to marketing bodies, a few traders mixed Gorablu with Rashi and Bette. A truckload normally consists of 330 bags of nuts, each weighing some 70 kg. Farmers allege that traders mixed around 100 bags of Gorablu nuts with Rashi to make quick money.
As several truckloads of nuts have been rejected in recent months, the demand for areca nuts fell and the prices crashed. The growers maintain that they are suffering for no fault of theirs: they sell their produce to middleman, who in turn make a deal with traders. They allege that low quality nuts were mixed with better quality ones after the nuts were sold to middlemen.
Meanwhile, according to the traders, a handful of farmers have begun using chemicals during the processing of nuts to enhance the look and feel of inferior-quality nuts. Processing involves removing the husk and boiling the kernels. While a majority of growers follow the traditional method of processing that does not involve chemicals, the traders say some have, which has landed them in trouble during quality checks.
While these issues are being sorted out by local authorities, a section of growers believes that there is a larger reason why the nuts from Karnataka were rejected. They believe that inferior-quality areca is being illegally imported from Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and other countries. The farmers have demanded that this stop. Office bearers at the Shivamogga district areca growers’ association say the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court as well as Assam High Court have taken note of these illegal imports and the Centre should act to stop it.
The issue of produce being rejected is only the latest in a series of problems that the areca growers are facing. In recent years, areca cultivation has been badly hit by fruit rot and yellow leaf disease. This year, following heavy rains in July and August, nearly 40% of the total areca plantation in Shivamogga district was affected by fungal disease. The situation in other areca growing areas is no better. The infection reduces the yield substantially, causing a huge loss to the farmers. The growers have been following the advice of experts from the Horticulture Department and scientists and are desperately trying to protect their palms from the disease.
Vast tracts of areca plantations in Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, and Uttar Kannada districts have already been hit by yellow leaf disease. The yield in these plantations has come down by nearly 90%. A team of scientists from ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute at Kasargod, Kerala, visited the farms in Malnad region to examine them. Despite a series of protests and demands by the planters, no solution has been offered to them. Many growers, particularly those in the traditionally areca-growing regions of Thirthahalli, Hosanagara and Sagar in Shivamogga district and Sringeri, N.R. Pura, and Koppa in Chikkamagaluru district, are even moving to bigger cities, abandoning their farms. While some of these problems require detailed research, the traders and growers need to work together to solve the immediate problem of a drop in demand.
Published – September 16, 2024 12:15 am IST