SALEM: After bearing repeated losses over the past few years due to consistently low procurement prices fixed by sago mill owners, tapioca farmers in Salem can now rejoice as there has been a gradual rise in market prices.
Salem continues to remain one of Tamil Nadu's major tapioca-producing regions, owing to its favourable soil composition and climatic conditions, considered highly suitable for cultivating tapioca with high starch content required for sago production. According to data available with SAGOSERVE, Salem contributes nearly 15% of the state's total tapioca production and plays a key role in the sago manufacturing sector.
Farmers said the sharp fall in prices during the past two years had severely affected cultivators across the district. Tapioca prices, which hovered around Rs 12,000 to Rs 14,000 per tonne in 2024-25, steeply declined in late 2025 to nearly Rs 5,000 per tonne. Farmers said the drastic reduction in prices pushed several farmers into financial distress, as the returns were insufficient even to cover cultivation and harvesting expenses.
Now, farmers say prices have increased to around Rs 8,000 to Rs 9,000 per tonne depending on the starch content, with procurement rates largely determined by sago mill owners. They added that harvesting activities have already been completed in most tapioca-growing belts of Salem and that increased demand from mills has contributed to the recent rise in prices.
Farmers further said that the growing concern among mill owners themselves that tapioca cultivation may continue to shrink drastically in the coming years if farmers are not provided with remunerative prices has also helped push the prices up. They pointed out that many cultivators have already started shifting to alternative crops over the past few seasons due to repeated losses and uncertainty in pricing, resulting in a steady decline in the overall cultivation area under tapioca in several parts of the district.
According to farmers, if the low price situation had continued for another few seasons, it could have eventually led to a shortage in raw tapioca supply for the sago industry. They said the price rise is likely to encourage farmers continue cultivation during the next planting season, and expressed hope that prices could increase further over the next month depending on market conditions.
