Aizawl, March 29: Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma said on Friday that due to the illegal import of ‘areca nut’ (betel nut) from Myanmar, local cultivators in the state have faced serious challenges in selling their produce at competitive prices.
Addressing the training-cum-seminar on ‘Scientific Methods of Cultivation of Areca nut and Pest Management’, the Chief Minister emphasised that the government is working diligently to address these difficulties and take corrective measures.
He announced that Rs 7.43 crore has been sanctioned by the North Eastern Council (NEC) for establishing areca nut processing units at Chemphai and Zamuang. He said that these units would ensure proper processing of areca nut, create value-added products, and facilitate marketing.
Lalduhoma also stressed the importance of proper utilisation of available resources to ensure increased productivity and economic benefits for farmers. Mizoram government’s Land Resources, Soil and Water Conservation Department organised the training-cum-seminar as Assam Rifles and other law enforcement agencies often seizing areca nuts, also known as Burmese betel nuts, after they were illegally traded from the neighbouring Myanmar.
Rifles and Customs officials, in a joint operation, on March 21 have seized a consignment of areca nuts valued at Rs 1.08 crore in Mizoram. A Defence spokesman said that acting on specific intelligence inputs, a large quantity of areca nuts, contained in 180 bags, was seized at Zote in the Champhai district, which shares an unfenced border with Myanmar, is a hotspot for the smuggling of various drugs, foreign cigarettes, areca nuts, arms and ammunition, and exotic animals and their parts.
Large-scale smuggling of areca nuts from Myanmar is also seriously affecting farmers in Assam and Tripura, where betel nuts grow in large quantities. The Assam government, due to illegal imports of areca nuts from Myanmar, had imposed restrictions on the transportation of the product, affecting the ferrying of areca nuts from Tripura to other parts of the country.
With the intervention of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, the standoff regarding the areca nut supply from Tripura to Assam was partially resolved. CM Saha also earlier discussed the matter with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking smooth transportation and trading of areca nuts grown in Tripura through Assam.
In August last year, during a ministerial-level meeting between Assam and Mizoram over the dispute of inter-state borders, the two states reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining a zero-tolerance policy towards transportation of smuggled areca nuts from neighbouring Myanmar.
IANS