State to bring parity in commission charged from betel leaf farmers

: The state Agricultural Marketing department is trying its best to bring parity in the commission charged from betel leaf farmers at the wholesale markets across the state.

The farmers are being deprived of the rightful price for the cultivation of betel leaf due to such disparity in the commission.

“We have recently held two meetings with the organisation of betel leaf farmers and betel leaf businessmen in the presence of officials from the state Food Processing Industries & Horticulture department and deliberated on the issue of this disparity.

All stakeholders have welcomed the move and through discussions, we are hopeful

of bringing a parity in the commission charged from

betel leaf farmers,” Minister of state (Independent Charge) Agricultural Marketing

minister Becharam Manna said.

Betel leaf is a crop that comes under the Horticulture department, however, its marketing is overseen by the Agricultural Marketing department. Betel leaf is cultivated in some 17 odd districts in the state but the majority of the production takes place at Tamluk in East Midnapore and Kakdwip in South 24-Parganas.

In Kakdwip there are 8 wholesale markets of betel leaf located in three blocks.

The collection of betel leaf popularly known as ‘Guchi ‘ in Bengali parlance varies; for normal betel leaf, the Guchi varies from 150-299 while sweet betel leaf Guchi varies from 250-300. The middlemen take 9 per cent as commission from farmers for sale.

There are 17 wholesale markets in East Midnapore where 80-120 are treated as one Guchi for normal leaf and 250-300 for sweet betel leaf. In some other markets like that in Ramnagar, 50 leaves form a Guchi. A commission of 9 per cent is charged by middlemen.

The commission charged is more or less the same but as the number of betel leaves in a Guchi varies, the farmers are deprived of their due share.

However, in wholesale markets at Belda in West Midnapore, Arambagh in Hooghly, Karimpur in Nadia, Deganga in North 24-Parganas, Taldangra in Bankura and Beldanga in Murshidabad there is no commission prevalent and the sale is systematic.

Even in Kolkata wholesale markets — Raja Katra in Burrabazar and Koley Market in Sealdah, the middlemen are active and a commission of 9 per cent is charged for the sale.

“We have already formed a Farmer Producer Organisation (FPOs) with the betel leaf farmers so that the sale can be done systematically. Infrastructure is being spruced up at the wholesale markets for collection, storage and auction.

The markets are also being linked with the e-Nam platform to facilitate online sales,” Manna said.