5 months ago
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Large-scale arecanut imports from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) specified arsenic Bhutan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka person been adversely affecting India’s home arecanut market, severely impacting farmers successful cardinal producing regions, Capt. Brijesh Chowta, Dakshina Kannada MP, said successful the Lok Sabha connected Monday.
Raising the substance nether Rule 377 connected the archetypal time of the Winter Session of Parliament, Capt. Chowta said that those countries presently bask zero customs work nether India’s Duty-Free Quota-Free (DFQF) preferential commercialized strategy — a proviso primitively intended to enactment LDC economies and present being misused successful a mode that harms Indian farmers.
The zero-duty model has resulted successful low-cost, inferior-quality arecanut flooding the Indian market, destabilising prices and pushing cultivators into distress. Between September 2023 and August 2024, Bhutan accounted for 57% of each arecanut import shipments, followed by Myanmar astatine 39%, and Sri Lanka astatine astir 2%.
India is afloat self-sufficient successful arecanut production, having produced astir 14 lakh tonnes cookware India successful 2023–24, with Karnataka unsocial contributing astir 10 lakh tonnes. Yet, contempt this home abundance, ample volumes of zero-duty imports proceed to participate the country, creating a steep and unfair terms disparity that erodes the competitiveness of farmers successful large increasing regions specified arsenic Dakshina Kannada, Shivamogga, Udupi, and Chikkamagaluru, the MP said.
Reports bespeak that India imported astir 30,271 tonnes of arecanut during the archetypal 8 months (April–November) of 2023–24 — a measurement that stands successful stark opposition to home accumulation and signals an avoidable reliance connected imports contempt wide self-sufficiency, helium said.
Capt. Chowta pointed retired that mean arecanut imports pull 100% basal customs duty, but the DFQF exemption nullifies this extortion entirely. This loophole has led to terms crashes, marketplace instability and heavy economical anxiousness among lakhs of cultivators whose livelihoods beryllium connected the crop.
A merchandise from the MP’s bureau said that on with raising the substance successful Parliament, Capt. Chowta has besides submitted elaborate representations to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, urging them to exclude arecanut from DFQF benefits and reinstate mean Customs work connected imports from LDCs. He emphasised that portion India remains committed to supporting LDC economies, specified concessions indispensable not compromise the economical information of Indian farmers.
“The DFQF exemption has unintentionally opened the gates for arecanut dumping, causing terrible nonaccomplishment to our farmers, particularly those successful Dakshina Kannada who are already facing terms instability. I impulse the authorities to instantly exclude arecanut from DFQF benefits to safeguard the livelihoods of lakhs of cultivators successful Dakshina Kannada and different arecanut-growing regions,” helium said.
