The Hindu : Karnataka News : Prices of white arecanut go up

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Friday, Nov 02, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Prices of white arecanut go up

Raviprasad Kamila

CAMPCO sources attribute it to shortage in stock in the country

MANGALORE: Prices of white arecanut in Mangalore market have started going up bringing some respite to farmers who have suffered substantial crop loss this year due to fruit rot disease which aggravated this rainy season.

The price of the old stock of white arecanut known as “double chol” (harvested in 2005-06) is in the range of Rs. 95 and Rs. 102. The “single chol” (harvested in 2006-07) arecanut is fetching Rs. 85 to Rs. 92 in the market. When compared to prices that prevailed during this season, last year’s prices of old arecanut are up by Rs. 6 and Rs. 7 this year.

The prices of new supari (new arrivals grown this year) is in the range of Rs. 60 to Rs. 65. Last year, new supari fetched Rs. 50 during the same time.

Sources in the Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Limited (CAMPCO), a cooperative society of Karnataka and Kerala farmers, and Mangalore Agriculturists’ Sahakari Sangha Limited (MASS), two prominent cooperative societies marketing arecanut, attribute the rise in prices to shortage in stock of white arecanut in the country.

North India is the main consumer market for white arecanut grown in the Mangalore region and Kerala.

The sources said that the crisis in Myanmar has also resulted in prices going up. This is because both Indian and Myanmar Governments have tightened security along the borders. As a result, smuggling of arecanut to North India via Myanmar has come down substantially resulting in demand for the domestic produce.

In addition, some farmers in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts, who were otherwise growing white arecanut, produced red variety of arecanut in 2006-07 as the red variety in that year fetched more price than white arecanut.

They expected that the red variety will fetch more price than white arecanut in the coming years. This has contributed to a reduction in the production of white arecanut in 2006-07. “Its impact is being felt during 2007-08,” the sources said. These factors have resulted in prices going up for old stocks (“double chol” and “single chol”) this year.

Sridhar G. Bhide, president, MASS Limited, told The Hindu that the prices of new arrivals are going up this year because production of white arecanut has decreased by 40 per cent due to disease and loss of trees.

The prices of new arrivals could reach Rs. 80 next month. “Farmers should not hoard their produce. If they released the produce into the market at regular intervals it can help in maintaining stability. We have no stocks,” he said.

Manchi Srinivasa Achar, president, All India Areca Growers’ Association, Puttur, said that production of white arecanut has come down by 50 per cent this year due to disease. The cost of producing a kg of arecanut comes to Rs. 70. However, this year it has gone up as farmers had to spray copper sulphate-lime mixture to control the disease more than three times. Prices of copper sulphate also went up this year.

A high-power committee of the Union Government that visited Dakshina Kannada recently to assess the crop loss due to the disease is yet to submit its report. It will hold its sitting in Bangalore on Friday, Mr. Achar said.

As per data published in Arecanut and Spices Database, 2007 by the Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development, Kozhikode, the prices of new supari had touched Rs. 131 a kg in 1999-2000 and Rs. 90 a kg in 1998-99 in the Mangalore market. In 2001-02, it fell to Rs. 46 a kg

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