Betel leaf farmers in 2 districts face financial crisis despite bumper harvest

Kendrapada: Betel leaf farmers in Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada districts are worried despite bumper production as low prices have affected their earnings. Harvesting of paan leaves began recently.Lokanath Malla, a farmer of Patana village in Jagatsinghpur district, said, “Production was satisfactory. But we are not earning much due to lesser prices offered by traders combined with rising wages for the workers.” “Demand for gutka, khaini and zarda is one of the reasons behind the reduction of paan prices,” added Malla. Like Malla, large numbers of farmers are worried as the price of betel leaves has crashed to an all-time low. “A few years back, we used to sell 1,000 paan leaves at Rs 1,000. But now we are resorting to distress sale of betel leaves at Rs 400 to Rs 500 per 1,000. We are finding it difficult to recover the input costs,” said Babaji Sahoo, a paan farmer of Nuagaon.Around 7,000 farmers of seaside villages in Kujang, Earasama and Balikuda in Jagatsinghpur district and Mahakalapada and Rajnagar blocks in Kendrapada cultivate betel leaves. “I raised betel leaves over half an acre of land by spending Rs 1 lakh. But the crashing prices of betel leaves has left me staring at huge losses,” said Jiban Sahoo, another paan farmer of Patana. “We would not be able to cover the costs even by selling our entire produce,” said Bhasrat Sahoo, a paan farmer of Kajalapatia village in Kendrapada. Most of the growers of Kujang region used to supply paan leaves to New Delhi, Mumbai, Surat, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and other cities.“But now we are struggling to supply betel leaves to faraway places as traders are not interested in purchasing paan due to the rising demand for gutka,” said Maheswar Behera, a paan trader of Kujang. “Many states like Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh have banned the manufacture, sale and distribution of gutka. The govt should implement the ban throughout the country,” added Behera. “The govt has not fixed any MSP for paan leaves. Hence, it is not possible to check the distress sale of paan,” said Suresh Chandra Mallick, chief district agriculture officer (CDAO), Kendrapada.