The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) will reopen its regional office in Kozhikode shortly.
Representatives of cooperative societies, who attended the general body meeting of NAFED in New Delhi on Friday, said that NAFED Chairman V.R. Patel had given an assurance to the effect, which was endorsed by the Kerala representative Siby Monippally.
A NAFED team would shortly visit Kozhikode to deal with the formalities, they added.
The office was officially closed on July 31. But, it was remaining non-functional for six months.
New premisesV.D. Joseph, district panchayat member and the president of the Kozhikode District Rubber Marketing Federation, who attended the general body meeting, said NAFED would relocate to new premises in Kozhikode as it had already vacated the previous one.
“Offers have already come from various quarters,” he added.
Mr. Joseph said that the reopening of NAFED office in Kozhikode would be a relief for hundreds of farmers, especially those struggling with the falling price of rubber.
“Only NAFED will be able to procure rubber offering a better supportive price utilising its vast storage facilities. The regional cooperative societies find it hard to procure huge quantities,” he said.
Sources said the NAFED office in Kozhikode was closed down due to “pressure from some outside agencies, citing poor returns.”
Leaders of cooperative societies in the State who attended the meeting said the reason cited was wrong and only the regional office in Malabar had enough resources to continue operations among farmers.
Recently, the supportive price offered by NAFED to coconut farmers had paved way for resentment. “The supportive price was lower than that of the private players. In effect, its procurement drive was a total fiasco,” said a farmer from Thiruvambadi. He also said that it was time to revamp the operations of NAFED to suit farmers’ interests.
