Even as the upward movement of arecanut price continues, farmers who have suffered extensive damage due to drought don’t stand to benefit much.
The price of the rashi idi variety of arecanut, which was traded at ₹28,000 a quintal on March 3, touched ₹42,000 on March 21 — a jump of 50% in 18 days. There has been a similar escalation in the price of saraku, bette, gorabalu varieties too.
The price rise is attributed to the decline in yield due to drought and the Centre’s decision to increase the base import price of arecanut in January from ₹162 to ₹251 a kg. The yield had declined by around 30% in 2016 owing to moisture stress caused by drought in major arecanut-growing districts such as Shivamogga, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Davangere. The production is likely to come down further in 2017 with drought hitting again.
However, small and marginal farmers form a major chunk of arecanut growers, but they will not benefit much from this sudden enhancement in price. Nagaraj P., a grower from Karehalli village in Bhadravati taluk, told The Hindu that the average yield per acre in the region has declined from 10 quintal to 6 quintal owing to acute scarcity of water.
The flowers in the arecanut trees are not blooming properly because of moisture stress, thus adversely affecting the pollination process. The moisture stress has also resulted in fall of immature nuts and flowers. As the farmers have suffered extensive damage owing to drought in the past two years, there will not be much increase in the overall returns.
Eshwaran P. Teertha, another arecanut grower from Kudligere village, said March 31 is the deadline at many of the cooperative societies and private finance firms for repayment of loans borrowed for agricultural and non-agricultural purposes. Many small and marginal farmers have already disposed of their produce for the old price in order to repay loans and to meet other expenses, including education, weddings and purchase of agriculture inputs.
He said only the farmers with large-scale land holdings that had the capacity to hold the produce and the middlemen and traders who had stocked up the produce benefit from the surge in price.
