The Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) Ltd is deliberating on a proposal to manufacture arecanut-based mouth fresheners for the domestic market, according to SR Satishchandra, President of Campco.

Speaking at the annual press conference of the co-operative to highlight its performance during 2016-17 in Mangaluru recently, he said Campco conducted several farmers’ meetings in the past few weeks and one of the feedbacks was to explore the potential of manufacturing mouth fresheners from tender arecanut.

Stating that the plan to manufacture mouth freshener is still in the proposal stage, he said research will have to be conducted before exploring the possibility of manufacturing mouth fresheners for domestic market.

Satishchandra said the farmers’ feedback is based on Campco’s recent export of a trial consignment of tender arecanut to China.

That country has a huge market for tender arecanut as the main raw material for mouth fresheners. Asked about the plans for exporting tender arecanut to China, he said the export of arecanut is viable only if the domestic price for the commodity is below ₹200 a kg.

Now farmers are getting around ₹250 a kg for white arecanut. In such a situation, the export is not a viable option at this juncture.

He said that countries such as Indonesia supply arecanut to China at a cheaper rate compared to India.

Pepper procurement

Campco, which ventured into pepper market during 2016-17, purchased 38.04 tonnes of pepper worth ₹2.20 crore.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed with Indian Institute of Spices Research to use its facilities for the processing operations of pepper. The cooperative has launched retail packs of pepper in the market now, he said.

Satishchandra said Campco has arranged to distribute around 6,300 pepper seedlings and 81,760 cocoa seedlings to its members at a subsidised rate. The main intention is to promote inter-cropping pattern in arecanut plantations, he said.

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