District Collector K. V. Muralidharan has appealed to coconut growers in the district to register their names with relevant information such as Aadhaar card, bank account and chitta adangal of the land with the Agricultural Marketing Committee authorities.
Speaking to reporters here on Friday, the Collector said that 2,400 metric tons has been fixed as the target for procurement of milling copra and Ball copra varieties from farmers.
The district had grown coconuts in 22,500 hectares and close to 3,600 lakh coconuts would be harvested. With good rainfall, the crop coverage area had enhanced this season, Mr. Muralidharan said.
Volatile prices
With heavy arrivals of coconut in the markets, the government, to protect the farmers’ interest, had introduced a Price Support Scheme. Under this scheme, the regulated market would procure the produce at a price fixed by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED). Depending on the quality and other aspects, the NAFED had fixed ₹103.35 per kg for Milling copra variety and ₹106 per kg for Ball copra.
Welcoming the scheme, farmers from Chinnamanur, Cumbum and Uthamapalayam and other towns have expressed satisfaction as they were apprehensive about the huge arrivals of coconuts, and as a sequel, the falling prices. The NAFED had marginally increased the rates from last year, which would discourage the farmers from going to private merchants through middlemen.
The government’s initiative to procure at a fair price would encourage more farmers to take to agriculture and the information technology used to sell their produce to buyers in different parts of the country had come as a big motivation. By following the SOP, the Collector appealed to the farmers to participate in the online trading with physical distancing norms in view of the pandemic, the farmers added.
