Marketing every agricultural crop (not just rubber) requires a system that would respond to changes in the market and this requires to be looked at the State- and national-level, G.V. Joshi, member, State Planning Board, told The Hindu .
Rubber cultivation (which is picking in Dakshina Kannada) requires an appropriate institutional arrangement. It must be set up now as there had been a sudden switch to growing rubber which in itself was a challenge, he said.
Other than rubber, the district was known for cultivation and trade in areca, coconut, paddy, and spices such as pepper. Today, the marketing of these products was a study in contrasts. While areca growers were dealing with a demand slump, coconut was marketed directly to sellers. Paddy was no longer cultivated on a commercial scale in Mangalore and vegetables were cultivated only for self-consumption.
Following the decline in chewing areca, growers were trying to find alternative uses so that they could market it. “There is a decreasing demand in usage and some other way has to be found to use it,” Shridhar Bhide, Director, Mangalore Agriculture Sahakari Sangha (MASS), told The Hindu . Meanwhile, attempts are on to find alternative uses for areca. Badanaje Shankar Bhat is part of a team that was working on industrial, medical, and pharmaceutical applications of areca. Areca soft drinks and soaps were some products.
Areca wine is waiting for investors who could manufacture it on a commercial scale. A notable change in marketing of agricultural products in the district is “doorstep agricultural marketing” enabled through mobile phone, said G. Giridhar Prabhu, former president of KCCI. One instance is that of marketing coconut (and copra) which used a low-cost system where the buyer and seller decide prices over phone. There was no need for a physical market or for transporting the bulky produce and no product was left unsold. Over the years, some crops that the region was known for, was no longer cultivated. In Mangalore, paddy was grown only for home consumption, as a ritual and “respect to the land”. It was grown very marginally for sale as scarce labour had made it unviable to grow. Instead, farmers have moved on from cultivating paddy to providing services such as rice mills that cater to paddy from north Kerala too. Pepper is currently in good demand. P.B. Abdul Hameed, a Bunder-based trader, said there was shortage of pepper worldwide. “At present, availability of the commodity is all that matters,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), which is supposed to facilitate farmers so that they get the best prices for their produce, has left many traders unhappy. The yard in Baikampady is quiet and there is very little activity evident.
After APMC shifted from Bunder to Baikampady, it lost control of the functioning of the Bunder sub-yard. Earlier, auctions of commodities were held ending with APMC declaring the highest bidder. “Now, we voluntarily give (update) the APMC,” Mr. Hameed said.
