Call to put an end to adulteration in sago

A forceful appeal to put an end to adulteration in the production of sago, in the interest of protecting tapioca farmers, was made at the farmers’ grievances redress day meeting held here on Friday.

District Collector M. Asia Mariam presided over the meeting.

K. Sundaram, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, alleged that a few manufacturers were adulterating sago with maize flour. While a 90 kg bag of sago fetches a price between Rs. 5,500 and Rs. 6,000; the price of maize flour ranges between Rs. 1,500 and Rs. 2,000 per bag.

While the manufacturers by adopting this illegal practice manage to make good profit, it leads to steep fall in its price.

Mr. Sundaram said that the sago manufactured in the district is transported to Gujarat and Maharashtra. Tamil Nadu manufacturers faced the danger of losing the business, if the trading community of these States come to know about the poor quality of sago due to adulteration.

He urged the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department officials to initiate stringent action against the sago manufacturers indulging in adulteration.

Ms. Asia Mariam warned that stringent action will be taken against people who involved in adulteration. The food safety department officials will conduct regular check of sago manufacturing units, she added.

‘Revive open wells’

Farmers belonging to various associations urged the district administration to take steps for sanctioning financial assistance for rehabilitation of open farm wells. Many farm wells were in a poor shape due to improper maintenance, they said and demanded financial assistance for strengthening the retention walls.

Some of the farmers representatives alleged that the officials of primary agricultural cooperative banks were forcing the hapless farmers to procure poor quality fertilizers stocked with them. These officials are also sanctioning loans only for certain crops, they said and urged the district administration to direct the cooperative societies to sanction loans to all varieties of crops raised by the farmers.

Ms. Asia Mariam assured that steps will be taken to ensure that farm loans were sanctioned only to crops that have been raised by the farmers. The cooperative societies will also be directed to procure and distribute good quality fertilizers.

Turmeric farmers alleged that the price of turmeric crop raised by the farmers of the district has suffered a steep fall due to the arrival of the same in huge quantity from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

They demanded the State government to slap a ban on the arrival of raw turmeric from other States.

When farmers raised the issue of permission for lifting silt from the dry bed of the water bodies, the Collector said that 10 dry lakes have been identified in the district for this purpose and permission will be accorded to the farmers soon.