It is troubled time for tapioca farmers of East Godavari district as they struggle to get minimum price for their produce with outside players virtually staying away from the market this season. The tuber that was sold at a price of Rs.1,500 per tonne last year, is now being quoted at Rs. 850.
The irony is that the farmers have spent more on the inputs and are sceptical about the yield due to the spread of diseases. Tapioca, popularly known as ‘Karra Pendalam’ in the local dialect, is the major rain-fed crop in the district being cultivated predominantly in the upland mandals.
It is the second largest crop after paddy in the district, which is being sown in about 70,000 acres.
Generally, the farmers commence the plantation works in June and get the yield in the months of February and March every year. Thousands of farmers from Peddapuram, Gandepalli, Jaggampeta and Gokavaram areas have been into the tapioca cultivation for many years, as they can get guaranteed returns against nominal input costs, as compared to other rain-fed crops such as cotton.
Sago industries located in and around Peddapuram are on the job of purchasing the produce directly from the farmers. At a time when the farmers are about to get the yield, the sago millers have made it clear that they could not offer more than Rs. 850 per tonne. The farmers launched agitations demanding that the millers must retain the last year’s price.
“The initial response from the local millers was cold even during last year. But we got a good price, when millers from Kerala entered the local market and began clinching deals with the farmers directly,” recalls Palakarla Viswanatham, secretary of the Karra Pendalam Sagu Rythu Sangham, which is fighting for the cause of tapioca farmers.
“Spread of a disease is suspected in some fields. As the Horticulture Research Station had been shifted to West Godavari, no scientist is available here to help us now,” he says. The millers, however, say there is a drop of price for sago in the export market, due to which they can’t offer a better price to the farmers.
