As the drop in turmeric price is affecting farmers, the State government should take steps to enhance turmeric exports and improve their livelihood, said farmers during the grievances redress meeting held through video conferencing here on Tuesday.
Due to COVID-19, the monthly meetings held at the Collectorate were cancelled from March to September and the district administration announced conduct of meeting through video conferencing for October.
Collector C. Kathiravan chaired the meeting from the Collectorate and arrangements were made in the offices of Revenue Division, Tahsildar and agriculture offices enabling farmers’ participation. Issues related to Kudimaramathu scheme works, renovating water canals, problems faced at the paddy direct procurement centres among others were raised by the farmers.
Many farmers said that turmeric was the main crop raised in the district and drop in prices led to farmers stocking it for months. They said that due to huge demand for turmeric in Sri Lanka, the produce was smuggled regularly to the island nation and sold in black markets. Hence, steps should be taken to export turmeric to nations where there was good demand.
Mr. Kathiravan said steps would be taken to explore more export opportunities for turmeric.
