Orissa seeks central help for turmeric procurement by Nafed, Trifed

New Delhi, May 7: CONCERNED over distress sale of turmeric in Orissa, the state government has sought immediate Central intervention to ensure procurement by agencies like Nafed and Trifed for mitigating the plight of tribal farmers.

"The Centre should ask Nafed authorities to procure at least 20,000 MTs of turmeric, which forms about 50 per cent of the total production immediately so that the poor tribal farmers are saved from harassment", says state minister for agriculture Amar Prasad Satpathy.

Mr Satpathy said he had recently met the Union minister of state for agriculture Sripad Naik and drew his attention to the bumper production of turmeric of about 40,000 MTs in Kandhamal district of the state.

"The price of turmeric, a major source of livelihood of tribal farmers of Kandhamal, has been considerably reduced to Rs ten or eleven per kg and the growers are not able to get even the cost of production which should be about Rs 18 per kg", he said.

Stressing the need for market intervention to support the farmers, Mr Satpathy said farmers have been forced to resort to distress sale and are being exploited by middlemen and unscrupulous traders. Though Kandhamal Apex Spices Association for Marketing (Kasam) and Orissa Milk Federation had started procuring turmeric from the district, they have very limited capacity, he said, adding that if central agencies like Trifed and Nafed do not purchase a substantial quantity of the commodity, the situation would become more complicated.

Mr Satpathy said the present market rate of turmeric has declined to about Rs 9,000 per MT from the average price of Rs 17,500 in 1999 and Rs 14,500 in 2000.

The Centre, he said, should arrange procurement of turmeric through Nafed with a minimum support price of Rs 15 per kg without insisting on 50 per cent cost sharing by the state government.

He said the most notable feature of Kandhamal turmeric is that these are produced organically without the use of any chemical fertiliser and pesticide. Organic spices has got enormous demand in several foreign countries, he said, adding "if farmers of the district do not get remunerative price for their product, and distress sale continues, there is apprehension of decrease in the production of spices in the coming years".

The minister also said the state agriculture secretary had also written a letter to Union agriculture secretary JNL Srivastava seeking relaxation of the present norm for Market Intervention Scheme which should be immediately addressed. He said such a step is imperative for the farmers in the state who are being exploited by unscrupulous traders. (PTI)