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Low demand, price force tribals to stock produce

Coimbatore: The farmers at the Kallar tribal settlement in Anamalai Tiger Reserve near Valparai are ready with pepper and honey, among other produce, but much to their disappointment there aren’t many takers.

J Rajalakshmi, who usually harvest and sell pepper during February-April every year, is forced to stock 150kg of produce at her house this year as she couldn’t sell the same due to lockdown.



She says, “By this time last year, we had sold most of our produce to traders and 1kg pepper had fetched us Rs 450. But this year, we are forced to stock the produce for two reasons. First of all, there isn’t much demand for pepper and traders are quoting a price of Rs 200 to Rs 300 a kg, which is too low. Second, we can’t move the produce due to lack of transportation facilities.”

Pointing out that they harvest pepper only once a year, Rajalakshmi says they are dependent on the income from it to make a living through the year. “It is not just my family, almost all the families in the settlement are struggling to sell their produce.”

Other tribal hamlets too are facing the same problem. Sathish, a farmer from Kuzhipatti in Udumalpet range of Anamalai Tiger Reserve says, “It is during April-May that the collection of honey is high. We start collecting honey in April and the activity goes on until the onset of rain. This year, we could not sell the collected honey due to lack of transportation facilities.”

He says their customers are quoting a price of less than Rs 500 a litre against Rs 650 last year. “There is no demand for most of the forest produce, including lemongrass oil, the price of which has dropped to Rs 900-Rs 950 a litre from Rs 1,500.”

S Thanaraj, a tribal rights activist, has sought the intervention of the government to assist the tribals to sell their produce.

“The produce that they cultivate fall under the minor forest produce category. Presently, they are selling the produce to middlemen. The government should fix minimum support price for the produce and help them sell the same.”

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