Kerala - Kozhikode   

Neera project: farmers' forum feels let down

Staff Reporter

Takes exception to selection of agencies to run project

KOZHIKODE: The Farmers Relief Forum, while welcoming the Government decision to accept in principle agriculturists' right to tap and market `neera,' has expressed disappointment in the selection of agencies to run the recently announced `neera' projects in the State. It said the farmers' panel had played a pioneering role in popularising neera as a non-alcoholic popular drink and its by-products.

Baby Zacharia, Kozhikode district president of the Forum, said the Forum leaders had spearheaded the movement on the absolute right of farmers on coconut palms, including the freedom to tap and sell `neera.' He said several cases were pending in courts in Kozhikode and Wayanad Districts against its members on charges of leading the movement in violation of the Abkari Act.

The Government was yet to withdraw these cases against the forum leaders, he said. The forum will take out a march to the Collectorate on March 13 to register its protest.

It was in February 2001 that the Farmers Relief Forum publicly tapped and marketed `neera' at Kalpeni village in Koodaranji panchayat.

A tapping centre was set up at Kodencherry panchayat and the by-products such as molasses, vinegar and `paani' were manufactured and sold. A mass public protest was held at the Mananchira Square in Kozhikode in 2002. Farmers in many rural centres in Kozhikode and Naduvayal, Mullankolli, and Panamaram in Wayanad district later took up the tapping and sale of the non-alcoholic drink and its by-products with great success.

The forum expressed the view that at a time when farmers were burdened by debts, providing them with a project to process neera would go a long way in providing some means of income and relief.

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