Daringbadi: The tribal-dominated Kandhamal district is well known for its turmeric production. It is particularly in demand for its aroma. The turmeric leaves and powder have high demand in and outside the state. Traders from other regions come here to buy turmeric leaves in bulk.
Turmeric leaves are used during Prathamastami, a festival in which mothers offer prayers for their firstborn. The leaves are used for preparing ‘Enduri Pitha’, the delicacy of the festival. The cake made of rice and black gram (with sweet stuffing) is wrapped in turmeric leaves and steamed.
As the festival day is approaching (November 11), the markets are flooded with turmeric leaves. Incidentally, November, the month of early winter, is the harvesting time for turmeric leaves. A bundle of turmeric leaves is sold between Rs 5 and Rs 10. But it is the middlemen, who pocket the profit while the tribals get a pittance.
Lack of awareness and market facilities push the tribal farmers to fall prey to middlemen. Taking advantage, the middlemen purchase the leaves from desperate farmers for a song and send them to Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and other urban centres and sell them at a premium.
The middlemen are found almost in all major blocks and cheat farmers of the real value of the turmeric leaf.
“We have to be careful while collecting the leaves as it is a delicate work. It takes days to collect the leaves. However, we get meagre price even after so much hard work,” said Mamata Pradhan of Simanbadi.
She added that the tribals were unaware of the actual price of the turmeric leaves, so the middlemen cheat them.
Due to lack of facilities from the government, the tribals are forced to sell the product at throwaway prices to middlemen, an elderly woman Jema Digal said. PNN
