The farmers’ wing of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee has appealed to the Union Government not to reduce the import duty on arecanut in the interests of growers of the country.
Addressing presspersons here on Saturday, vice-president of wing Sachin Miga said that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government during 2012–13 had levied duty to check imports.
“This had increased price of arecanut in the domestic market and growers got a better price for their produce. During the last year, arecanut growers in Malnad region, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, and Western Ghats region had to incur huge crop losses owing to heavy rain in the region.
Price fallThe illegal entry of areacanut from neighbouring countries has brought down the price to Rs. 26,000 a quintal, which was over Rs. 1 lakh just four months ago,” he said.
