பட்டுக்கூடு விலை அதிகரிக்குமா?

தருமபுரி, மே 17: பட்டுக்கூடு விலை எப்போது அதிகரிக்கும்? என விவசாயிகள் ஆவலுடன் எதிர்பார்த்து காத்திருக்கின்றனர். தமிழகத்திலேயே மிகப்பெரிய பட்டுக்கூடு அங்காடியான தருமபுரி அரசு பட்டுக்கூடு அங்காடிக்கு திருவண்ணாமலை, வேலூர், சேலம், கோவை, திருப்பூர், ஈரோடு, திண்டுக்கல், கிருஷ்ணகிரி உள்ளிட்ட பல்வேறு மாவட்டங்களில் இருந்து பட்டுக்கூடுகளை விவசாயிகள் கொண்டு வருகின்றனர். ஏலமுறையில் தினமும் விற்பனை செய்யப்படும் பட்டுக்கூடுகளை தருமபுரியில் உள்ள சுமார் 40 பட்டு உற்பத்தியாளர்கள் வாங்கிச் செல்கின்றனர். கடந்த பிப்ரவரி மாதத்தில் 1 கிலோ ரூ.350 ஆக இருந்த மஞ்சள் பட்டுக்கூடு, மார்ச் மாதத்தில் இருந்து விலை குறைந்து இப்போது 1 கிலோ ரூ.189 ஆக குறைந்துவிட்டது. செவ்வாய்க்கிழமை நிலவரப்படி, மஞ்சள் பட்டுக்கூடு விலை அதிகபட்சமாக 1 கிலோ ரூ.220 என்றும், குறைந்தபட்சமாக ரூ.157-க்கும் விலைபோனது. வெள்ளை பட்டுக்கூடு அதிபட்சமாக ரூ.260-க்கும், குறைந்தபட்சமாக ரூ.227-க்கும் விலை போனது. பிப்ரவரி மாதத்தில் ஒரு கிலோ பட்டு நூல் விலை ரூ.2,900-க்கு விற்பனை செய்யப்பட்டதால் பட்டுக்கூடுகளின் விலையும் அதிகமாக இருந்தது. இப்போது ஒரு கிலோ பட்டு நூலின் விலை ரூ.1,950 ஆக உள்ளதால் பட்டுக்கூடுகளின் விலையும் குறைந்துவிட்டது என பட்டு வளர்ச்சித்துறை அதிகாரிகள் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர். இன்னும் 2 வாரத்துக்குப்பின் திருமண நிகழ்ச்சிகள் அதிகரிக்கும். அதைத்தொடர்ந்து, பட்டின் தேவை உயரும்போது பட்டுக்கூடுகளின் விலையும் அதிகரிக்க வாய்ப்பு உள்ளது என்றும் பட்டுவளர்ச்சித்துறை அதிகாரிகள் தெரிவித்தனர். தருமபுரி அரசு பட்டுக்கூடு அங்காடிக்கு தினமும் 3,000 முதல் 5,000 கிலோ வரை பட்டுக்கூடு விற்பனைக்கு வரும். செவ்வாய்க்கிழமை நிலவரப்படி 3,500 கிலோ பட்டுக்கூடு விற்பனைக்கு வந்தது. நன்றி: தினமனி
பட்டுக்கூடு விலை அதிகரிக்குமா? 

Monday 6 June 2011 


For the State’s silk farmers, the future is not smooth 

Farmers producing silk cocoons in Karnataka are in dire straits, facing a blighted future. Silk farming is in jeopardy as cocoon prices, earlier ruling at Rs 400 per kg and crossbreeds fetching equally handsome Rs 300 per kg, have lately dropped significantly.

With both the Centre and State governments resorting to mere promises to help them tide through their plight, farmers in the State have resorted to agitations without much success. Silk cocoon producers saw their business blooming over a decade thanks to the amendment to Central Silk Board Act which freed them from the shackles of governmental control over their trade. But from February 2011 on, prices of cocoons and raw silk have hit the pits seeing a free fall in recent months, following a dramatic reduction in raw silk import duty from 31 per cent to 5 per cent, in the last Union Budget. Cocoon farmers alleged that this was done to favour silk weavers who lobbied hard to get much cheaper silk from abroad at the cost of domestic producers. Following the sharp reduction in duty, resulting in huge imports of Chinese silk flooding the Indian market, prices of silk cocoons are now ruling at rock bottom prices of Rs 150 to Rs 250 per kg and cross breeds at Rs 100-120 per kg. Farmers are naturally angry. Chikkaballapur-based Zilla Reshme Hitharakshana Vedike Convenor Yaluvahalli Sonne Gowda charged that, traders and master weavers buy Chinese silk over Indian variety creating artificial glut in the market besides pushing local silk prices down. The farmers fear that China, in collusion with local traders and master weavers may soon monopolise the Indian market with the result they will be left with no choice but to shift from their traditional mulberry cultivation. The other reasons inducing shift away are: rising labour costs due to compulsory minimum wages under NREGA and more profitable crops like coconut, sugarcane and turmeric. They are also less labour-intensive in nature. “We are incurring losses of Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore every day due to the Centre’s arbitrary decision,” says Chikkaballapur District Silk Growers’ Welfare Committee President Malluru Shivanna, ruing that despite Karnataka meeting more than half of the country’s silk requirement, the apathetic conditions of silk growers continue to be remain deplorable. Currently, he points out, that India produces around 20,000 tonnes of raw silk, while the annual requirement is around 30,000 tonnes. The deficit is being met by China imports. Say the farmers’ representatives, unlike weavers “we cannot pass on the price and silk rearing cannot be mechanised as its labour intensive.” They fear that sericulture will be wiped out in India and Karnataka as in Japan, while China will spread its stranglehold in the Indian market. It is understood that Karnataka produces around 55,000 tonne of cocoons and 8,000 tonne of raw silk annually. They point out that the current crisis can be contained by providing minimum support price for cocoons, banning duty free import of silk, reversing the current import duty on raw silk upward besides buttressing both Karnataka Silk Marketing Board, the nodal procurement agency and Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation by providing adequate financial resources to help them in market intervention and provide adequate loans to silk growers. Furthermore, they said, the government must fix the cocoon rate to pre-February price as also raw silk produced by reelers at Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 a kg. As per the City’s silk exchange, through which farmers sell raw silk after selling to private buyers, there is slight dip in the quantity of raw silk being sold. During the financial year ended March 31, 2011, total raw silk sold through the exchange was at 1,037 tonnes against 1,084 tonnes in the previous year. There are 10 cotton exchanges in Karnataka at all prominent cocoon and silk producing districts and there are 62 cocoons markets. Says Malluru Shivanna that farmers are ready to increase the cocoons production  should the traders desire in order to bridge the demand supply gap of the raw silk so that there will be no need for Chinese imports. “By adding bit of infrastructure and other facilities in six months time we can do this”, he observes. Traders argument The traders/master weavers’ community, however, are refusing to buy the farmers’ arguments. According to them, overproduction of cocoons has been having a cascading effect leading to enhanced production of raw silk triggering a depression in their prices and in return leading to erosion in the margins. They refuse to accede to farmers’ charge that volatile fluctuation in prices is due to import duty reduction. In fact, Mohammed Mehboob Pasha from Shidlaghatta, a silk trader, said that they are suffering erosion in their margins by buying cocoons flooding the market, to protect the farmers’ lot. The traders fear that if they refuse to lift cocoons, farmers will shift to cultivation of different crops for their survival. Given the high cost of living, labour cost, rentals and other overheads, traders and weavers feel that if farmers resort to distress cultivation of other crops, then they would be starved of precious cocoons, vital for production of silk. This, in turn, will ruin their business. The traders opine that the government must reimburse losses being suffered by farmers as they cannot protect them for long term. State government officials, meanwhile, on condition of anonymity, said a team of officials were working out the possible financial implications of the minimum support price and the formal announcement to this effect will be made by the chief minister. The government, in February, sources said, released Rs 12 crore to KSMB, which lifted 60 tonnes of cocoons lying in its godown besides providing some financial relief to farmers to the tune of Rs 3 crore. However, Vedike convener Gowda says the government had promised monetary intervention to the tune of Rs 30 crore which has not yet happened. He said besides ‘Vidhana Soudha Chalo’ on June 14, 2011, when farmers from across the State would lay seize to the State’s centre of power, similar agitation has been proposed at zilla levels in Chikkaballapur and Shidlaghatta in the form of zilla bandh on June 28, 2011. Gowda alleged that, even though domestic silk costs around Rs 1,400 per kg and Chinese silk Rs 2,600 per kg, traders go for the Chinese variety to create artificial glut in the market of domestic silk and depress the price of the product. He pointed out that while cost of production of cocoon is over Rs 250 for a lot, farmers’ are being forced to sell them between Rs 100-125 per lot incurring losses. State sericulture officials, on the other hand, say they are helpless since it is open market trade and they have no legal powers to check or enforce any restrictions on the trade’s conduct. Till a resolution is arrived it’s a monsoon season laden with simmering discontent ready to pour out in torrents. Sericulture farmers in Statestaring down the barrel Crash in cocoon prices has made them uncertain about future A significant percentage of the estimated one lakh sericulture farmers in the State have taken to cultivating mulberry and rearing silkworms on land they have taken on lease.— File photo When a kg of cocoons was fetching a handsome Rs. 350 a couple of months ago, Ramanna Prakash decided to plunge into the seemingly remunerative field of sericulture and took on lease 20 guntas of land in Thoreshettihalli in Maddur taluk at Rs. 10,000 a year. But the sudden crash in cocoon prices to an abysmal Rs. 80 to Rs. 120 a kg since February this year has Mr. Prakash and thousands of sericulture farmers across the State staring down the barrel. With expenditure working out to more than Rs. 120 for each kg, farmers and their families have been left feeling uncertain about the future. “When I am unable to even recover my investment from the sale of cocoons, how am I going to pay the lease amount?” wondered Mr. Prakash. “I will either have to hang myself or consume poison if the prices do not increase,” he said. A significant percentage of the estimated one lakh sericulture farmers in the State have taken to cultivating mulberry and rearing silkworms on land they have taken on lease. “Their lives appear to have been ruined,” said T. Yeshwantha, a Karnataka Rajya Prantha Raitha Sangha leader in Maddur. A large number of farmers in Mandya district, including small and marginal ones, had shifted from cultivating paddy and sugarcane to cultivating mulberry and rearing silkworms, he said. According to officials of the Sericulture Department, the area under mulberry cultivation in the State increased following the increase in the price of cocoons over the last one year. The area under mulberry cultivation has increased by almost 9,000 hectares in the last one year. “When senior IAS officer P. Manivannan took over as Commissioner of Sericulture, he ordered a physical survey, which revealed that only 55,000 hectares of land was under mulberry cultivation. Now, a recent survey shows that the area has gone up by about 9,000 hectares,” a Sericulture Department official said. Statistics on the production of cocoons also reveal a substantial increase in production during the months of April and May 2011 compared to the corresponding period last year. “A total of 9,104 tonnes of cocoons were sold at the auction centres across the State during April and May this year as against the 7,207 tonnes sold in the corresponding period last year,” an official said. Cut in import duty The increase in production also coincided with the import duty on raw silk being slashed from 31 per cent to 5 per cent in the Union Budget 2011. After the cut, silk imported from China became available to the textile industry at Rs. 2,550 a kg as against the pre-February rates of Rs. 3,400. “Though the cost price of a kg of raw silk from China remained in the range of $ 54 to $ 58, the reduction in duty by about 26 per cent brought down the price of Chinese silk substantially, impacting the price of indigenous silk,” said the general secretary of the Karnataka Weavers' Federation, Chhaganmal. The imported silk from China was available at $ 32 till September 2010. “But by February 2011, the price rose to $ 54, prompting us to press for reduction in duty. With silk becoming expensive, many textile manufacturers had no option but to shift to polyester and other fabrics.” Area under mulberry cultivation has increased by almost 9,000 hectares in the last one year Cocoon output rose in April and May 2011 compared to the corresponding period last year

கடந்த மார்ச் மாதம் முதல் பட்டுக்கூடுவிலை உள்நாட்டுச் சந்தையில் வீழ்ச்சியடைந்து வருகிறது

State	Market	Variety	February-2012				February- 2011
			Qty. (M.T)	Min.	Max.	Avg.	Qty. (M.T)	Min.	Max.	Avg.
Karnataka	Ramanagaram	Bivoltine Hybrids	226.19	180	290	236	143.09	240	450	369
		Imp. Cross Breed	782.17	140	236	195	794.39	175	366	306
	Siddalghatta	Imp. Cross Breed	1076.31	140	252	209	860.39	120	380	308
	Kolar	Imp. Cross Breed	149.15	130	235	193	154.88	190	356	303
Tamil nadu	Dharmapuri	Bivoltine Hybrids	10.80	166	230	223	9.00	280	388	365
		Imp. Cross Breed	31.80	150	195	184	44.10	215	322	308
	Coimbatore	Imp. Cross Breed	6.30	147	180	159	6.70	174	299	259
Andhra Pradesh	Hindupur	Imp. Cross Breed	78.04	120	238	186	119.99	142	435	285
	Dharmavaram	Imp. Cross Breed	19.51	75	225	190	24.72	141	352	300