Demanding that a reasonable price be fixed for tapioca, and the government immediately conduct a tripartite meeting to solve various problems faced by them, members of Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Association on Thursday staged a demonstration outside the SAGOSERVE office on Salem — Bangalore National Highway here.
Led by P. Shanmugam, State general secretary of the association, members said that tapioca was cultivated as main crop in 18 districts in the State. A 70 kg bag of tapioca was earlier sold for Rs. 800, whereas it is currently being sold for Rs. 250.
“The price fall has affected lakh of farmers,” they said.
They said that the steep fall in price was because of the planned maneuver of the sago traders. The Salem Starch and Sago Manufacturers Service Industrial Cooperative Society Limited (SAGOSERVE) should buy sago at a reasonable price. Also, mill owners should have the infrastructure facilities for storing the sago in godowns and also the loan facilities, they added.
Since over one lakh small and medium farmers were involved in the trade and it was the only source of livelihood for them, the State Government should conduct meeting and solve the issue, they said.
There were about 200 units functioning in Salem and Namakkal districts, each crushing about one lakh bags of tapioca and producing sago. Traders insist that the sago be whitened using chemicals before selling in the market.
Hence sago manufacturers are forced to use banned chemicals.