Farmers in hilly areas of the district are reportedly not too eager to continue with their dependence on tapioca cultivation due to declining returns. A section of farmers who had been traditionally cultivating ragi switched over to tapioca in recent years lured by a buy-back arrangement introduced by middlemen who supply tapioca to chips manufacturg units.
However, the farmers are suffering due to the vagaries of price. Not only has the procurement price come down drastically to Rs. 4,000 per tonne for tapioca, the soil fertility has also been lost due to repeated cycles of cultivation, Agriculture Department officials said. The soil has to be fertigated with organic manure before they get back to sowing ragi, the officials said.
