The Hindu Business Line : Tapioca farmers seek safeguard duty on modified starch

TAPIOCA farmers in Tamil Nadu have urged the Centre to bring tapioca starch, modified starch and sago under the negative list of imports to halt their shipments into the country permanently.

They have also appealed to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms Jayalalithaa, to take up their cause with the Centre again to ensure that the safeguard duty mechanism is extended to the modified starch as in the case of tapioca starch early this year.

Expressing anxiety over the rising trend in the import of modified starch into the country, the Salem-based United Farmers Association (UFA) President, Mr C. Vyapuri, said notwithstanding the 33 per cent safeguard duty, imports of starch had been going up on in the "guise" of modified starch, as the safeguard duty, levied from May this year, was applicable only to tapioca starch.

Though the import trend gave a lower starch import figure of 10,000 tonnes this year compared with 12,000 tonnes last year, import of modified starch has doubled to 8,000 tonnes, Mr Vyapuri told Business Line.

He said his forum was agitated over the long term implications of the import of tapioca-based products on the domestic industry and the health of the sago units which helped sustain the State's traditional dry land agriculture and rural employment.

Tapioca output estimated higher: Mr Vyapuri and Mr A Ponnudurai, President of the Chinnakalrayan Hills north panchayat that has vast tract of rain-fed tapioca crops, expressed the hope of a good crop yield this year, thanks to the higher moisture condition in high-grown regions of Shevaroy and Kolli hills regions. They estimated the tuber's yield this year at 50,000 tonnes, some 20 per cent higher than last year. This would lead to increased crushing by the sago units.

To revive the sago economy in the State, they wanted the Tamil Nadu Government to do away with the one per cent market committee cess on tapioca procured from the agriculture marketing committee yards.

Though the collection of cess in the major tapioca belts of Salem and Namakkal had been stayed by the court, a formal official action to remove the cess once for all would give a boost to the sago industry. They also pleaded for introduction of tapioca strains having higher starch content and resistance to the "mosaic" disease attack.

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