With ‘gutkha’ manufacturers having shut production units across the country after the Supreme Court (SC) ban on its packaging in plastic sachets, the demand for arecanuts has drastically fallen, impacting the livelihood of five million families dependent on this crop.
The prices of arecanut — a key ingredient of chewing tobacco — have gone down by almost 40 per cent, making it uneconomical for farmers, who are not even able to recover their cost of production. Meanwhile, National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW) has issued a 1,400-page health report highlighting harmful effects of chewing tobacco. This might propel the process of imposing a complete ban on smokeless tobacco products in India. The reply to this health report was to be presented in the Supreme Court on the earlier date of hearing i.e. April 13. Now, the apex court has further adjourned the hearing till July 20.
Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing Processing Cooperative Ltd (Campco) President Konkodi Padmanabha said, “While earlier arecanut’s price was around Rs 156-160 per kg, it has now come down to even less than Rs 100 per kg. The responsibility lies with both the central and state governments. They liberally financed the farmers through nationalised banks, in order to cultivate arecanuts in India and to save on the foreign exchange on its import. It’s their responsibility to provide alternative crop to the farmers for their livelihood. They cannot risk the livelihood of so many farmers in the guise of saving the environment by banning the usage of plastic sachets.”
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and World Health Organization (WHO) had organised a national consultation on April 4 and 5, which too recommended a phased ban on chewing tobacco considering its ill effects on health.
Arecanut prices have already come down with just a ban on the use of plastic in gutkha packaging. If the court bans the manufacture of gutkha itself, then there will be no takers for the farmers’ produce and millions will lose their livelihood across India, primarily in the southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
PHFI President K Srinath Reddy said, “We will persuade the government to catalyse the SC to put a complete ban on these products, but in a phased manner. We need to prepare for a situation of its complete ban. The steps would include the provision of distress subsidy to farmers, alternative livelihood generation, health care provision, state specific strategies, involvement of other stakeholders like the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, protection of vulnerable sections of society and community programmes for tobacco cessation, and more.”
India is the leading producer of arecanut in the world, with 53 per cent share of global output. In India, arecanut is mainly grown in Kerala, Karnataka and Assam. The first two states account for 70 per cent of the total production. The total area under arecanut in the country is estimated to be around 372,000 hectares and total production is 340,000 tonnes. Indonesia, Bangladesh, China, Myanmar and Thailand are the other producers of arecanut.
WHO (HQ)-TFI Senior Advisor Vinayak Prasad said, “Judicial intervention is certainly required in this matter, which can only be catalysed by political will. Smokeless tobacco is relatively a newer category in India, the production of which can be easily curbed at its early stage. We will then look at ways to eradicate smoking tobacco in India. We need to eradicate tobacco from society in all its existent forms. It has already been banned in other countries like Australia and New Zealand.”
