Girijana Cooperative Corporation loses to traders in tamarind procurement

Srikakulam: Hopes of tamarind farmers for a bumper crop in agency areas of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts have been dashed owing to adverse climatic conditions. Less than required rainfall last year has a severe impact on the production of the crop.

Yield has been poor in agency mandals of Kotturu, Bhamini, Sitampeta, Palakonda, Mandasa, Burja, Palasa, Pathapatnam, Meliaputti and Hiram Mandal in Srikakulam district.

With this, tamarind not available at Girijana Cooperative Corporation (GCC) depots. The depots at Pathapatnam, Sitampeta in Srikakulam, Parvathipuram, Saluru, GLPuram in Vizianagaram, Paderu, Chintapalli, Araku in Visakhapatnam districts have no stocks of the essential commodity as the corporation is not able to procure much of the produce this season.

As a result of non-availability of tamarind at GCC depots, supply has been stopped for tribal welfare hostels two months ago, according to managers of Sitampeta and Pathapatnam GCC depots Panasa Lilly Pushpanadham and Chintha Madu.

This year, the GCC fixed a procurement price of Rs 22 for per kg of tamarind from farmers which would be supplied to hostels at Rs 40 a kg after removing seed and fibre from it. However, traders are offering higher price every year to farmers than the price fixed by the GCC.

As a result, few farmers are selling the commodity to the corporation whose primary objective is providing market and reasonable price to forest produce. This is one of the reasons for loss of business for the GCC.

“We are unable to procure sufficient quantity of tamarind due to less price offered by us than traders and we have to follow the corporation’s fixed rates,” GCC depots managers Pushpanadham and Chintha Madu explained to this newspaper.