20,000 FAMILIES IN A QUANDARY OVER DROP IN PRICES

More than 20,000 families which depended on pepper cultivation in the Matale district were faced with a predicament for want of a remunerative market for their produce. Rattota Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Kumarasena Tennakoon said the sharp decline in prices of minor export crops had resulted in this situation.

He pointed out that the Matale and Kandy districts were the main minor export-crop producing

the wholesale purchase price of dry pepper which had been Rs.1,400 about three years ago was now Rs.400 while raw pepper declined from Rs.500 to Rs.65 a kilo

areas and that thousands of families depending on the income derived from selling pepper and other traditional crops had lost their livelihood.

Mr. Tennakoon said the wholesale purchase price of dry pepper which had been Rs.1,400 about three years ago was now Rs.400 while raw pepper declined from Rs.500 to Rs.65 a kilo. He said hundreds of farmers had abandoned traditional crop cultivation. Meanwhile, a representative of the All Ceylon Agrarian Congress told the media that the government had totally neglected the minor export crop market leaving the local producers at the mercy of the importers.

He pointed out that the price of export crops had shown a sharp decline due to the surreptitious activities of racketeers who imported cinnamon, pepper, cambogia, arecanut, and several other traditional export crops and re-exported them at exorbitant prices as local produce.