Tripura areca nut farmers fail to find buyers, demands CM's intervention

The areca nut farmers of Jampui Hill in North district under the umbrella organisation of Jampui Farmers' Union (JamFU) met Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha and sought his immediate intervention and help on the current crisis faced by the farmers.

Speaking with India Today NE, Dr Zairemthiama Pachuau, General Secretary of Jampui Hill Mizo Convention (MC) said the areca nut farmers of North district which shares a border with Assam and Mizoram are facing problems and they are unable to find buyers and sell their commodity due to apparent restrictions imposed on transportation of the commodity by Assam government into their state where from Mahajan/traders dealing with the commodity mostly come.

The JamFU team is joined by leaders of areca nut farmers from various places in the North district of Tripura. 

Arecanut is a cash crop mostly grown in the North district, including Jampui Hills. It has been a valuable commodity in which a large number of families invested close to a hundred per cent of their time and human and financial resources. With a handsome profit in returns, it has been considered 'green gold' for the past so many years.

He further said that this year it is likely to be the opposite, with the commodity in danger of being dumped as waste, as it is not seeing any trader and buyer coming forth due to unknown and unspecific reasons which one can only make assumptions upon. 

"The Chief Minister of Tripura already being alert to the grim situation faced by the farmers, talked about the crisis with his Assam counterpart Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma over the phone. The two Chief Ministers also agreed to talk further face-to-face about the crisis faced by the farmers when the Assam Chief Minister will visit Tripura on the 7th of November 2022. Dr Saha assured the leaders of the farmers that he himself will also immediately take up the issue with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah", he said.

The leader further said, "Our farmers are in demoralised, stressful and panic situations. They are literally crying. They are facing starvation. Not only farmers of Jampui Hill, but also farmers of other parts of the North district. And not to be forgotten, buyers and traders from Assam who make a living out of the crop. If the areca nut farmers and traders are not rescued from the looming economic doom coming to haunt them, it is likely that the governments will also have to pay huge prices in the coming polls."