Urging both the Central and State governments to fulfil their 10 important demands, farmers in large numbers submitted petitions to the district administration during the weekly grievances day meeting at the Collectorate here on Monday.
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Listing out their demands, farmers, under the banner of Tamilaga Vivasayigal Pathukappu Sangam, urged the State government to lift the ban on toddy, procure coconut, groundnut and other oil seeds from farmers directly and sell it through ration shops replacing palm oil.
They wanted the Central government to fix the minimum support price (MSP) for copra at ₹150 per kg and wanted the State government to procure raw coconut for ₹40,000 per tonne.
Based on the report of the National Commission on Farmers, MSP should be fixed for all agricultural products and the government should procure it, they urged.
Their other demands were workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme should be used for all farm activities, licence for farmers to hunt down wild boar that damage crops, withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2022, annual subsidy for farmers as given in Odisha, Telangana and a few other States, and implementation of Pandiyaru – Punnampuzha scheme.