Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar has said that the government is examining the option of procuring coconut for the Kerakarshaka Sahakarna Federation (Kerafed) with the cooperation of cooperative societies.
Inaugurating the district conference of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) here on Tuesday, the Minister said Kerafed was now in huge debt because of mismanagement.
There were allegations of corruption in the apex society of coconut farmers’ societies during the tenure of the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government, he added.
Noting that coconut cultivation could not be saved through subsidy alone, the Minister said value addition of coconut products was the answer to the problems being faced by farmers.
In Sri Lanka, value-added products accounted for 30 to 40 per cent of the coconut production while it was hardly four per cent here, he said.
Looming crisis
The Minister warned that the crisis in the agriculture sector would aggravate in the summer months because of the anticipated drought situation.
He said that after the Left Democratic Front government came to power, it initiated steps to clear arrears of crop damage compensation to farmers to the tune of Rs.82 crore. Arrears totalling Rs.28 crore had already been released, he added.
