Request to Uttar Pradesh Government to Waive Mandi Fee on Areca Nut

16-Jun-2026 11:14 AM

Lucknow: The Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (CAMPCO) has urged the Uttar Pradesh government to waive the *mandi* fee (market fee) levied on areca nuts sold by cooperative unions and societies in the state.

A CAMPCO delegation met the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow recently and apprised him of the difficulties faced by cooperative organizations in the areca nut trade due to this tax.

CAMPCO stated that the *mandi* tax has driven up the price of areca nuts and slowed down business, while also reducing the competitiveness of cooperative societies and unions compared to unorganized traders. CAMPCO is a multi-state cooperative organization run by farmers, with over 1.50 lakh producers associated with it.

The CAMPCO Chairman noted that areca nuts procured from Karnataka are already subject to an APMC cess there; the imposition of an additional *mandi* fee in Uttar Pradesh forces cooperative unions to bear a double tax burden. Consequently, the sales depot in Nagpur had to be closed due to negligible business activity.