Areca nut farmers in a bind in Wayanad

November 23, 2016 12:00 am | Updated December 02, 2016 05:09 pm IST - KALPETTA:

The demonetisation of high-value currency notes has pushed the farm community in Wayanad district, a major spice and coffee growing region in the State, into a crisis.

Farmers had been forced to stop the harvest of areca nut after procuring agents in the district downed shutters.

With quick wilt disease taking a toll on pepper cultivation, areca nut had been a major source of income for the farm community.

Units in Karnataka

“The produce from the district is sent to the areca nut processing units in Karnataka. The traders there had stopped procuring the produce from the district for the past one week after demonetisation,” K.Jacob, a tender areca nut dealer at Meenangadi said.

“I procure four tonnes of areca nut a day, for which I used to spent nearly Rs.32,000. Now, the weekly limit fixed by the government to withdraw cash from bank is Rs.24,000,” a trader said. “How can I run the business,” he asks.

Tender nuts

Sources said farmers in the district preferred to harvest tender areca nut as the quality of ripe nut was poor owing to geographical reasons. “The produce should be harvested in three months. Otherwise, it will ripen and quality will be lost,” Shankaran of Kakkavayal, a small-scale farmer says.

“Now the tender stage of the produce is almost over, which will cause a huge loss to the community,” he says.

This is also the time to prepare land for harvesting coffee and pepper, but the cash crunch owing to demonetisation is taking a toll on the plantations.

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