Mangalore: White arecanut shining this year

The Hindu

• Its price has gone up by Rs. 50 to Rs. 80, in spite of increased area under cultivation, output

 

Mangalore, 22 November 2011: Contrary to expectations, the price of white arecanut (also called ‘chali’) is up by Rs. 50 to Rs. 80 a kg this season compared with the corresponding period last year. This is witnessed at a time when the cultivated area and production of arecanut in the country is constantly on the rise in the last eight years, according to the government statistics.

 

Sources in Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Ltd. (CAMPCO) told The Hindu that ‘hosa adike’ (new arrivals) and ‘hale adike’ (old stocks) of white arecanut now fetch Rs. 140 a kg and Rs. 185 a kg, respectively. The price stood at Rs. 90 and Rs. 115 respectively during the corresponding period last year.

 

According to statistics with the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Delhi (as published in a report submitted to the State Government by Arecanut Research and Development Foundation, Mangalore, last year) the area under arecanut in the country went up from 3.54 lakh hectares in 2002-03 to four lakh hectares in 2009-10. The production during the period went up from 4.15 lakh tonnes to 4.93 lakh tonnes.

 

The Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development, Kozhikode, has projected arecanut production in the country for 2010-11 at 5.35 lakh tonnes.

 

Managing Director of CAMPCO A.S. Bhat attributed this year’s high prices to lack of stock in general and reduction in supply of arecanut from growers to the market.

 

G.V. Joshi, an economist who headed a committee which revised the production cost of arecanut for the government last year, said that increasing area and production of arecanut and this year’s high prices were not related.

 

This year, growers have held back the produce with them and hence prices have shot up, he said. “It is a farmers’ market this year,” he said.

 

Mr. Joshi, who is a member of the Karnataka State Planning Board, said he did not believe in the government’s statistics pertaining to cultivated area and production of arecanut. “It is based on old methodology. There is a need to conduct a fresh scientific survey with more samples and areas,” he said.

 

Manchi Srinivasa Achar, president, All India Areca Growers’ Association, Puttur, Dakshina Kannada, claimed that areacanut is being exported illegally. Consumption of arecanut by way of chewing has gone up. Like all other agriculture commodities which have been commanding better price, this year arecanut was also fetching high price.

 

Mr. Achar alleged that he did not believe in the government’s statistics. The association has been urging the Horticulture Department and the Kozhikode-based directorate to conduct a fresh survey of cultivated area and production of arecanut. No fresh survey has been done, he said. “The association does not believe in arm-chair based statistics,’’ he said.