Coconut farmers from Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts that together account for 30% of the crop area in Tamil Nadu are at the forefront of the on-going indefinite fast in Chennai demanding replacement of palm oil with coconut oil, groundnut oil and gingelly oil for supply through fair price shops.
The protesting farmers were arrested for the second day on Thursday when they attempted to march towards the Secretariat to remind the DMK Government of its 66th poll promise for distribution of coconut oil through public distribution outlets. “Arrest of farmers for raising a just demand is condemnable,” a functionary of Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Protection Movement in Tiruppur said.
The farmers belonging to Coimbatore, Tiruppur and other districts: Thanjavur, Dindigul, Kanyakumari, Theni, Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri, where coconut is one of the main crops are taking part in the protest.
The protest comes in the wake of their complaint on low procurement price made to the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, New Delhi. Against the current procurement of copra at ₹110.60 per kg, the farmers have been seeking a minimum support price of ₹150 a kg, factoring in the costs incurred towards manure, fertilizer, pesticides, harvest charges and labour charges.
They have also emphasised on inclusion of coconut oil in the list of edible oil and ban on import of palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia. “We are the ones who voted for the DMK government, believing in its 66th poll promise, and not the farmers in Malaysia or Indonesia,” a protesting farmer said.
Distribution of imported palm oil costing ₹100 a litre through public distribution outlets, with ₹75 subsidisation, at a time when coconut, ground nut, gingelly and other oil seed farmers were on the throes of crisis defies logic, according to the protesters.
“The subsidy amounting to a whopping ₹1,100 crore per year could well be spent on the welfare of farmers in Tamil Nadu,” a coconut cultivator in Coimbatore said.
The farmers’ associations in Coimbatore, Tiruppur and elsewhere in the State have planned to broad-base the protests in the coming days if there is no positive response from the State government.
