Enhancing the livelihood of Tapioca Growing Tribal Farmers of Salem District

Background

Tapioca is a major horticulture crop cultivated on nearly 3 lakh hectares in the State, producing 60 lakhs tonnes of the crop. This is the major crop in the districts of Salem, Namakkal, Erode, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Dharmapuri and Karur, and sustains more than three lakh farmers. A significant section of them are tribals. Some 800 sago and starch factories depend on this crop. Salem has traditionally been known as the land of sago and starch. Tapioca cultivation is taken up by thousands of farmers in Salem district. In the district, out of the total 60,000 hectares coming under various horticulture crops, 22,000 hectares is under tapioca crop. Of which, 60 per cent of the area is irrigated and the remaining under rain-fed situations. In Salem about 650 units are engaged in tapioca processing. Moreover, Salem region offers a good raw material base, cheap labour and good sunshine throughout the year. All these factors provide a congenial environment for growth of tapioca based products and have made this place famous for the same even at an international level. The cultivation of tapioca is manpower intensive only at the time of plantation and harvest. It provides a steady income to the farmers.
The productivity of tapioca is about 25-30 t/ha in this area, which is known to be the highest in the world. The national average is 19 t/ha while the world average production stands at 10 t/ha only. The agriculture-based sago and starch industry, once thriving, is today struggling for survival. A heap of serious issues confronts both the industry and the tapioca farmers who provide the raw material. Informal sources now put at least a part of the blame for the travails on the middlemen in the sector. Many middlemen lend money to farmers in the form of advance for the crop. They enter into an unwritten agreement which stipulates that they sell the produce to them. The nature of the crop favours them. It should be moved to the factory within 24 hours of its harvest or else it tends to lose the starch content - on the basis of which the industrial units fix the price. Hence, instead of taking chances, they are solely depend on Sago factories and they are not aware of the other product uses.

RATIONALE

• The yield of tapioca is getting reduced year by year.
• Pest and diseases like spiraling white fly, Cassava Mosaic virus, tuber rot, phoma leaf fall are affecting the crop badly.
• Good quality seed material is not available. The existing varieties yield potential have comedown and new varieties has not spread among most of the farmers.
• The farmers are not aware of the modern methods of which are cost effective and environmentally sustainable.
• Fluctuating cost of Tubers.
• Though there is an immense scope for product diversification for sago and starch products yet noticeable efforts are not being taken in this regard.
• Lack of knowledge on market and consumption pattern hampers the growth of the industry.
• In other than sago the existing processing methods are outdated and in efficient.
• For value addition the prototype machinery already developed by C.T.C.R.I., TNAU and other institutions has not reached the tapioca      
  growers.
  

Scope and product diversification

Sago is the only major product coming from tapioca. More than 400 factories are operating in and around Salem and Namakkal district. The farmers are frequently facing price fluctuation because of the nature of the produce which cannot be stored even for a day. To meet this problem the only way for the farmers to fetch more price is to go for minimal processing and value addition in tapioca at their holdings. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and CTCRI, Trivandrum had standardized some of the minimal processing and value added products that can be popularized and can be done at farmers holding itself. The awareness of minimal processing and value addition is very less among the farmers and training and demonstration at farmers holdings will improve their knowledge and sustain their livelihood.
Cassava as such provides an ample scope of diversification and value addition. There lies a vast opportunity for non-traditional uses of cassava in the form of value-added food, animal feed formulation, sago and production of commodity chemicals like citric, high fructose syrup etc. It can exploit its opportunities in the area of convenience food for which greater demands are projected in future. Sago is used as a snack food in preparation of potridge. It is also popular as an infant food. About 35 industries from Andhra Pradesh and many from Tamil Nadu are engaged in manufacturing tapioca growers.

Tapioca based agro industries

Globally 58 percent of tapioca produced is used as human food, 28 per cent as animal feed, 4 percent in alcohol and starch based industries and only 10 per cent is spoiled. While more than one fourth of the total tubers produced (158 million tons) in the world is in Asia, India accounts for only 6.5 per cent and Indonesia and Thailand account for about 10 per cent. Thailand and Indonesia export tapioca chips and pellets to other countries. The pellets are used as animal feed in western countries. In India, particularly Tamil Nadu and Kerala have the potential of increasing the productivity further and compete in the export of chips and pellets in the international market.
Tapioca can be used as a raw material for a number of value added industrial products such as starch, sago, glucose, dextrin, gums and fructose syrup. Most of the items mentioned are industrial products which can be categorised as “growth industries”. The industrial tapioca starch finds its application in various fields. The major consumers are cotton and jute textile, and paper and hard board industries. Liquid glucose and dextrose are widely used in food and pharmaceutical industries. Both these sectors are in a rapidly growing stage. The Government of India has included liquid glucose and dextrose in the list of items where there is likely to be a sustained demand and scope for investment. Since there is substantial growth in the food and pharmaceutical industries, naturally the demand for liquid glucose and dextrose is bound to go up in future. As tapioca starch possesses the advantageous physio-chemical and structural properties it can be easily converted to liquid glucose and dextrose. Many factories have been established recently with this objective.

Cassava as edible (other than sago)

White chips are used for the preparation of cassava flour, which is consumed in the same manner as rice flour. It also forms a major component in many animal feeds. In industry it serves as a raw material for manufacturing starch, dextrin, glucose and ethyl. Very fine cassava chips or crisps are deep fried in edible oil, packed in polythene bags and sold as snack food commercially in various parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Gold fingers, wafers, sago pappads, vermicelli, noodles, macroni and tapioca pappads are some of the other snack food items produced in home and cottage industries and are available in the market for sale.
Trade sources indicate that there is a great demand for chips (almost one lac ton per month) in the export markets, which of course has competition from South-east Asian countries. The by-product of starch factories, thippi and of cassava flour milling, bharda can be used as a cost effective ingredient in animal feed formulations. Also the simplicity of sago and starch extraction puts cassava in a one-upmanship position than other sources. This could be exploited for setting up units in non-traditional areas. Nevertheless cassava faces stiff competition from other sources of starch in price as well as in the preference for processed products. However, it was observed that thippi, a by-product of cassava factories is used as a filler in the poultry feed formulations and match box industries. Dried cassava chips may be used as a source of energy in compound feeds but most of the feed companies are reluctant to include cassava chips as an ingredient due to the cost factor.
Cassava as an ingredient of cattle feed is gaining popularity in the recent past. Raw tubers, flour made from cassava dried chips, thippi and peel are the most common forms of cassava used as cattle feed. Besides cattle feed preparations, cassava thippi flour are also used in the fish feed and poultry feed preparations. Bharada quality floor is used in making swine feed. Tapioca leaves can also be dried and fed for the cattle and also the leaves are a good source of food for eri silkworm.

Cassava as Non edible appilcation

Tapioca root can also be used to manufacture biodegradable plastic bags. A polymer resin produced from the plant is a viable plastic substitute that is not only biodegradable, but can be composted, is renewable, and is recyclable.

• Making value added products of starch like modified starches, oxidised starches, Glucose, Fructose, Gums etc can fetch better prices.
• Usage of methane gas to produce electricity can minimize electricity charges.
• Usage in other industries are Explosives, paper, construction,metal, textile, cosmetic, pharmaceuticals and mining etc.

Further the usage of labour savings cost effective modern machinery to reduce cost, standardisation of raw material purchasing to minimise brokerage,purchase of inputs through consortium of manufacturers will reduce the cost and creating a common facility center e.g. common starch processing center to purify and dry the starch will make the product more competitive cost wise and quality wise.

 METHODOLOGY

Area of study will be conducted with tapioca growers in 10 selective clusters of Salem district. About one Demonstration and 2 trainings (cost effective and environmentally sustainable cultivation technologies and value addition) in each cluster will be conducted. The demonstration units (minimal processing and value addition equipments) will be erected in farmers field in commodity group approach and direct marketing will be facilitated. The impact on production, productivity and value added products will be studied. Data will be collected and subjected for suitable statistical analysis. 

OBJECTIVES

• To improve the knowledge of small and marginal farmers on package of practices to raise profitability through training and demonstration
• Educate the farmers to overcome abiotic and biotic stress through ICT
• To create awareness on value addition and direct marketing  
• Enhance the socio economic status of the tribal area tapioca growers

 

COMPONENTS

• Training
  Twenty trainings will be conducted in 10 clusters (200 farmers) on improved cultivation methods, management, mechanisation, minimal processing and value addition. For this booklet and books will be issued for the farmers for reference and also the farmers will be taken to exposure visit to nearby processing units.

• Field Demonstration (critical inputs)
  Ten demonstrations will be conducted in 10 clusters for which critical inputs like micronutrients, biocontrol agents, biofertilizers, pesticides and fungicides will be issued to the beneficiaries.

• Minimal processing demonstration unit

Five demo units will be constructed in five selected clusters at a cost of  Rs. 3,00,000/- each. The demo units include the minimal processing components like

• Washer / cleaner unit with water supply
• Peeler
• Hand /pedal operated chipping machine
• Electrical dryer for cassava chips
• Mini flour mill
• Mixer / doughing unit
• Vermicelli / Noodles extruder

Deliverables (Quantifiable)

The area under tapioca cultivation will be sustained even when there is price fluctuation. Each cluster will contain 20 farmers and hence 200 farmers of tribal area will be trained and benefitted. By creating knowledge and awareness on products other than sago a parallel market channel can be created. Thereby the artificial price fluctuation will not occur.

 Expected outcome (Quantifiable)

Tapioca growers can increase their income upto 30 % by practising the cost effective cultivation methods, minimal processing and value addition by overcoming the biotic and abiotic stress. The outcome of the project will be helpful in improving the socio economic status of tapioca growers. The constraints identified from the project could be utilized for refining in future at specific area.       

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Contact:

Krishi Vigyan Kendra  
Sandhiyur- 636 203
Salem District
Ph: 0427-2422550
Cell: 94434 99234
Email : kvkmallur@tnau.ac.in