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Terming the Centre’s MSP for copra as ‘too meagre’, members cutting across party affiliations in the Assembly on Wednesday urged the State government to rescue copra farmers by providing financial incentives along with MSP.
Following this, Agricultural Marketing Minister Shivanand Patil assured the Assembly of discussing with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on the quantum of financial incentive that can be provided by the State government along with the MSP being provided by the Centre.
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“I will get back to the House within a day after consulting the CM on the issue,” the Minister told the House, while replying to a debate on the distress situation of coconut and copra farmers due to crash in prices.
Earlier, initiating the debate, former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy suggested that the State should provide incentive of about ₹3,000 in addition to the MSP of ₹11,750 per quintal of copra so that the farmers could be bailed out. He pointed out that the copra prices had crashed from ₹17,000 a quintal last year to about ₹8,000 now.
Endorsing his views, JD(S) leader H.D. Revanna said coconut was being cultivated on 10 to 12 lakh acres in 13 districts of the State.
MLA brings copra and grader to Assembly
JD(S) MLA M.T. Krishnappa brought to the Assembly a copra grader and a copra to make his point that the grading mechanism while procuring under Minimum Support Price scheme would hit farmers. The MLA displayed this while participating in the debate.
Speaker U. T. Khader told the member that he was not supposed to bring such things into the House. Instead, he could elaborately narrate the woes of farmers, he said, while referring to the rules and procedures of Assembly