IDUKKI:The BJP will take up various issues haunting the cardamom industry leading to the price crash with the government at the Centre.
Party national secretary, Kerala incharge, H Raja who attended a meeting at Nedumkandam the other day said that the party would work towards implementing M S Swaminathan’s suggestion to fetch the farmer’s product cost plus 50 per cent of it as remuneration, Jais John, president, BJP’s Karshaka Morcha told Express.
Raja said that the issue of setting up a committee to find out the actual production cost of cardamom would be taken up with the government. The meeting organised by the morcha was attended by a large number of cardamom farmers in the high range. The main issue that came up for discussion was the government’s non-intervention in taking steps to find out the production cost of the spice after 2007.
A study was conducted to find the production cost of NABARD and ICRI. The two bodies had fixed the production cost at Rs 230 per kg then, he said.
The situation has changed considerably and the production cost has escalated to about Rs 700 per kg. Labour costs, fertilisers and pesticides input cost have gone up steeply.