No action to establish a land-affiliated committee in Karnataka: Trade Union Government

Mangaluru’s onshore plantation. Karnataka ranks 1 million hectares from 1.411 billion tons of 6.8 million hectares (from 9.4 million hectares in India). |Photo source: Raviprasad Kamila

Mangaluru

The Union Government reiterated that there was no proposal to form a land commission in Karnataka.

On March 18, when responding to an unsold question, Ramnath Thakur, Secretary of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said: “There is no such recommendation to be considered.”

(Ms.) Dr. Mallikarjun wondered if the land-based committee has been proposed to handle, market, develop, add value and adjust the land-based prices in the Makhana board of directors in Bihar.

Earlier, on February 5, 2021, then-union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, informed Rajya Sabha that being a separate board that has not yet appeared was a priority, a question for Karnataka’s MP KC Ramamurthy.

A decade of demand

More than a decade ago, Prakash Kammaradi, then chairman of the Karnataka Agricultural Price Committee, stressed the need for a betel nut committee to protect the interests of growers to increase value to ensure that there is income price to ensure that it regains prices and conducts research to prevent survival and fungal infections in crops. In line with the committee’s proposal to form a board, the Karnataka government formed a technical committee in 2015 to review the proposal. The committee is chaired by the Vice President of the University of Horticulture Sciences, Bagalkot and is composed of officials from the Department of Horticulture, CPCRI and Arecanut Cooperatives. Since then, nothing has moved.

Part of the cooperative society engaged in betel nut marketing does not support the establishment of a board of directors, citing that it is managed by bureaucracy, so the interests of farmers may not be protected. In the proposed committee of farmers, marketing cooperatives and agricultural experts, fair representation is required.

In January 2025, Shivamogga’s betel growers association asked the alliance government to establish a board of directors for betel nuts that has not yet been established.

Karnataka is the leader in production

In his reply on March 18, 2025, Mr Thakur said that Karnataka ranked first with a total production of 1 million tons, from 6.8 million hectares of total production, from 1.411 billion tons of 9.44 million hectares of India, and in the final estimate of 20233-24, 9.4 million tons of India.

He said the onshore import volume was restricted by a 100% import tax, and recently raised the minimum import price (MIP) from Rs 251 per kg to Rs 351 per kg.

“The State Horticulture Mission (SHM) in Karnataka has been approved for an additional Rs 3.7 crore (the share of the Government of India), which is based on their proposal, in addition to their proposal, the Integrated Horticulture Development (MIDH), in addition to their proposal, in addition to the Annual Action Plan (AAP) for 2024-25, which also stipulates its proposal.

Crop-specific plates

The country has a crop committee specific to tea, coffee, coconut, rubber, spices, tobacco, turmeric, horticulture and the National Medicinal Plant Committee.