Amid demand for government intervention to bail out coconut growers, who have witnessed a sharp fall in the price of copra, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C. Madhuswamy on Tuesday expressed the government’s inability to announce a support price. He, however, assured the Assembly that the government would write to the Centre on scientific upward revision of support price.
The Minister’s response came after members cutting across party lines from Hassan and Tumakuru raised the issue of falling copra prices on the floor of the Legislative Assembly and sought government intervention. JD(S) legislator from Arsikere K.M. Shivalinge Gowda pointed to the price crash from about ₹18,000 to about ₹10,000 a quintal. Urging the State government to help farmers, BJP legislator from Tiptur B.C. Nagesh said the support price has to be revised as input costs have gone up.
Saying the State government was unable to intervene as the price was above the ₹9,920 a quintal fixed by the Centre, Mr. Madhuswamy said, “Even I am a coconut farmer. I know that the price has come down from ₹16,000 to about ₹10,300 a quintal. We will discuss and write to the Centre to increase the support price.”
The Minister also said that in 2019-20, the State had 6.05 lakh hectares under coconut cultivation and produced 11.52 lakh quintals of copra. “In the last five years, the State has not seen any major change, either in cultivation area or production,” he added.