In a move aimed at benefiting coconut farmers in the State, the government proposes to procure 1,500 tonnes of milling copra at the enhanced minimum support price announced by the Centre.
The government, which begun procurement of 50,000 tonnes of copra — 45,000 tonnes of milling copra and 5,000 tonnes of ball copra in the State — has directed Tamil Nadu regulated markets and agriculture cooperative societies to procure 1,500 tonnes of milling copra from farmers in the district at the rate of ₹95.21 per kg, the Centre’s minimum support price.
The Centre has fixed ₹99.20 per kg of ball copra and ₹95.21 per kg of milling copra and farmers, who cultivated coconuts in 8,646 hectares in the district, produced only milling copra, officials said. The government begun procuring copra in the district after a gap of about five years as the farmers had been selling tender coconuts or nuts in the past.
After series of meetings and intervention programmes, officials in the Department of Agriculture had prevailed upon the farmers to produce milling copra as part of the value addition strategies to get better price for the products, they said. As the procurement would be done during the next six months, the officials were hopeful of achieving the target of 1,500 tonnes, they said.
They proposed to hold awareness campaigns and farmers meetings to achieve the target, they added. Coconut farmers could register their names at the procurement centres after giving details of the area of cultivation and bank accounts. The copra should meet the quality prescribed by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED). Payments would be made within three days and the amount would be directly credited into the bank accounts of the farmers, they added.
