Areca growers expect Modi to clear air on ban proposal

Campco expects the new government, led by Narendra Modi, to withdraw an affidavit seeking ban on areca nut before apex court.

Areca nut growers here have high expectations from the new government at the Centre in view of an uncertainty hanging over the future of the crop following a proposal to ban it.

The proposed ban on areca nut snowballed into a controversy after an official of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare wrote (on September 6, 2013) to the Director of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India “to examine the scientific evidences on the harmful effects of areca nut with a view to initiating necessary action to classify areca nut as an injurious substance and accordingly prohibit its use as an ingredient in any food product”.

Manchi Srinivasa Achar, president, All India Areca Growers’ Association, Puttur, told The Hindu that the growers expect that the new government not to pursue the proposal. The government should withdraw an affidavit which Mr. Achar said was filed before the apex court to this effect in the case Ankur Gutka vs Indian Asthama Care Society and Others.

Mr. Achar said that the NDA government should streamline taxes being imposed on areca nut transport at different levels, such as by the agriculture produce marketing committees, commercial tax department and the like, for enabling “fair trade”.

President of Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) Ltd. Konkodi Padmanabha said that thousands of areca growers had supported the BJP in this Lok Sabhaelection. It was especially so in prominent areca growing districts of Dakshina Kannada, Shimoga, Udupi-Chikmagalur, Uttara Kannada, parts of Kodagu and Davangere. He said the new government could not let down them. Campco would soon urge the new government to be headed by Narendra Modi to “ban import of areca nut” and withdraw the affidavit before the apex court.

A farmer and a member of G.V. Joshi committee which revised production cost of areca nut, Ramesh Kainthaje, said that the growers were confused whether to increase the area under cultivation or not because of the controversy over banning areca nut. Till now, the Union government had not stated clearly that it would not ban areca nut. The new government should make its stand clear.

Campco Managing Director M. Suresh Bhandary said that when a delegation of Campco met Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad in last July he had ruled out banning areca nut in Gujarat. The delegation had met him after Maharashtra government banned gutka in which areca nut is an ingredient.

He said that Gujarat was the main market for white areca nut (chali) grown in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasaragod districts. Almost every house in Gujarat consumed chali variety and it had become part of their life.