Date:14/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/10/14/stories/2006101400780800.htm

Back `Areca growers will be hit by gutkha ban'

Our Bureau

Mangalore , Oct. 13

Expressing concern over the Union Government's decision to impose a ban on manufacture and sale of "gutkha" from December, the Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative (Campco) Ltd has said such a move would affect the livelihood of nearly one crore people — who are involved in production, processing and marketing of arecanut.

Arecanut Production

In a letter to the Union Health Minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, — copies of which were released to the press on Friday — the Campco President, Mr S.R. Rangamurthy, said farmers in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal and North-Eastern States would be affected by such a move. Every year, the country produces around five lakh tonnes of arecanut worth Rs 5,000 crore on four lakh hectares of land. Arecanut is the main ingredient in `pan masala' and `gutkha'.

"By banning the production and sale of gutkha, farmers of these States will have no other alternative crop and revenue for their livelihood. The Government should reconsider the issue and ban the harmful ingredients in gutkha, if any, and not the total production and sale of gutkha in our country," he said.

The Union Minister's statement on ban has already affected the market, and there is no buyer for arecanut in the market, Mr Rangamurthy said. At a time when farmers are committing suicide due to the hardship they are facing in marketing their produce, the Union Government should reconsider the whole issue and help the arecanut growers, he added.