Upland farmers in Kozhikode district have called for opening more coconut procurement centres in the rural areas to take advantage of the raw coconut procurement drive in the State. Lacking such local collection centres, many of the small scale farmers are now in a situation to depend on the service of a centre located in the Kozhikode city corporation limit.
The leaders of various farmers organisation point out that there should be efforts on the part of the district-level and State-level authorities to arrange at least one convenient collection centre in every panchayat. In the absence of such a facility, many have to spend extra money for the transportation of the produce to the remotely located collection centre, they complain.
“We learn that there is no sufficient fund with any of the selected agencies including Kerafed and the Coconut Development Corporation for meeting the procurement expenses. This is just a mock exercise to hoodwink the farmers,” says Joy Kannanchira, chairman of ‘We Farm’, an upland farmers’ collective in Kozhikode district.
According to him, no small scale farmers will be able to take advantage of the urban collection centre, considering the huge transportation expenses.
The small scale coconut farmers from Kuttiyadi reveal that they get just ₹28 for a kg of coconut, which is hardly a fair price.
They allege that the procurement drives earlier planned with the support of local Krishi Bhavans offering a support price of ₹32 a kg have been remaining a non-starter.
Functionaries of the Indian Farmers Movement say that there has been no beneficial support package for addressing the concerns of small scale coconut farmers who mainly survive at the mercy of the local traders. Projects earlier launched for improving the production and marketing of value added products are yet to assure a sustainable livelihood for many such lower income groups, they complain.
