Coimbatore
Sago manufacturers in western Tamil Nadu are upbeat as the state government has initiated earnest efforts to sell sago through the PDS outlets across the state.
“Our field staff are involved in enumerating the sago requirements to be supplied to PDS outlets. The Chief Minister has already made an announcement to sell sago through PDS shops. We are racing against time to commence sago sales through PDS shops from this Deepavali,” said N Tamilmani, chairman, of Sagoserve.
The sale of sago through PDS outlets is likely to surge the demand for the product, which in turn would revive the fortunes of hundreds of sago manufacturers and farmers producing tapioca.
Almost 95 per cent of the sago requirements of the country are met by manufacturers in Tamil Nadu. Of the, 480 odd sago producing units across Tamil Nadu, over 350 are located in the Western region. A majority of them are located in Salem, Namakkal and Krishnagiri districts.
While the demand for sago is less across Tamil Nadu, the product is mainly sent to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, where the consumption is high, particularly during the months of fasting.
Demand for sago peaks during the months of July, August and September, when a host of religious festivals are lined up in north India.
The sago trade, which stood at Rs 40 lakh in 1980’s has increased steadfast to Rs 504 crore during the last financial year (April 2018 to March 2019). “In the last six months alone, the sago trade has surpassed Rs 505 crore. And this year, we have set a target for Rs 1,000 crore,” said Tamilmani.
Despite such tremendous growth, the sago manufacturing units have been plagued by the issue of adulteration. “Adulteration of sago has led to a drop in demand affecting not just the manufacturers, but also the tapioca farmers. Farmers were shunning tapioca farming and are taking up alternative work due to poor demand leading to fall in prices. Tapioca production has almost halved in the last one decade,” said R Gopalakrishnan, president of Tapioca and Maize Farmers Association.
Curiously, when the production of sago turned out to be higher than the sales, the hundreds of units stopped production for two months in June and July to sell off the existing stock.
However, Sagoserve president Tamilmani said that sago manufacturing units were advised to fix CCTV’s and were monitored to prevent adulteration. “Already more than 200 factories have installed cameras and are linked to our centralised server for monitoring,” he said.
While sago production continues to thrive despite various issues, the starch produced from tapioca has taken a hit due to import of starch from Thailand. “We have been demanding a ban on starch imports from Thailand to protect the livelihood of our farmers and starch manufacturers. If not, starch manufactured here should be exempted from 12 per cent GST to further reduce its prices and increase sale,” said Tamilmani.
In order to fetch better prices for tapioca, the farmers have been demanding the state government to set up a couple of glucose manufacturing units in the western districts.
More than ten lakh farmers are cultivating tapioca in over 25 lakh acres of land in Salem, Namakkal, Villupuram and Erode districts.
“This time around, the tapioca farmers have got a reasonable price of up to Rs 12,000 per tonne due to a drop in production as several farmers have taken up alternative crops. A few years ago, the tapioca was sold for aslow as Rs 3,000 per tonne,” saidGopalakrishnan.
It has also been a long time demand of tapioca farmers from the government to announce a minimum support price for tapioca to prevent loss.
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