• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

G. Gurumurthy

Coimbatore, Sept. 5

Members of the United Farmers Association in Salem have urged for greater transparency in the analysis of the chemical properties such as the presence of the hydrocyanic acid content in sago/starch as it is agitating both the sago factories and the growers of tapioca, out of which the sago is produced.

To overcome the current tussle going on between the tapioca growers, sago/starch manufacturers and the middlemen in the industry, the association has suggested that evaluation of the chemical properties for the sago should be based on the standards governing the provisions of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and the experts from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research should be asked to find a suitable technology to remove the hydrocyanic acid that occurs naturally in production of sago, according to Mr C. Vaiyapuri, President of the association. He also urged that all sago/starch factories not having soft-potable water should be asked to install water treatment plants so that the tapioca root crushing is being done only with the use of softened water.

Mr Vyapuri said the drastic fall in the tapioca prices and also the price fall for sago/starch has become a matter of concern for both the growers and the sago trade including the factory owners.

According to Mr N. Krishnamurthy, President of the Salem district unit of the CPM-affiliated Tamil Nadu Vyvasaigal Sangham, the tapioca farmers were put at difficulty due to the sharp decline in price because the sago mill owners could not get the prices for their produce that was rejected at the market yards on account of the presence of hydrocyanic acid content at certain percentage levels.

More Stories on : Plantations | Standards & Benchmarks

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Hedging to manage price risks

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line