Areca is the main ingredient in gutkha which has been sold in small plastic sachets for many years now.
The nut is grown in 60,000 hectares in the district, and Bheemasamudra and Holalkere are the main growing areas. All over the State, areca is grown in 22 lakh hectares.
At a press conference here on Tuesday, farmers’ representatives posed a question to the government: Why should plastic be banned for gutkha sachets while the material is used for virtually everything else, including bottled water and food stuffs?
“If the government and the Supreme Court feel that plastic is harmful to the environment, let it be banned completely, thereby letting law treat everybody alike. We will welcome it” Basavanthappa of Muthagadur said.
He said the farmers were being meted out double standards. On the one hand it encouraged areca cultivation. On the other, it did not think of ensuring scientific pricing of the produce, he complained.
It takes between six and eight years to grow an arecanut palm, and the investment in a plantation has a long gestation period. With the court ban on plastic sachets, traders have stopped buying and selling gutkha and growers had heaps of unsold areca lying at homes, the farmers’ representatives said.
“Areca is our livelihood. But in the present circumstances, we are unable to repay our loans to banks. When our produce is unsold, what are we to do,” Chitralingappa wanted to know. He demanded that the government, either through the CAMPCO or other cooperatives buy areca, providing support price. He wanted that the Chaali areca should be purchased at a minimum price of Rs. 12,000 per quintal, and Red Areca at Rs. 15,000 to Rs 16,000 a quintal.