Kozhikode (Kerala)(IANS) : In a bid to ensure a fair price for the farmers in the state, the Kerala government Saturday launched a scheme to buy nearly 40 million coconuts from farmers.
The government will procure de-husked and split coconuts at a rate of Rs.11 per kg from farmers in the districts of Kozhikode, Kannur, Malappuram, Alappuzha and Kollam.
Coconut is an important component of Kerala’s agrarian economy. Coconut farmers numbering around 3 million have been facing a severe crash in prices.
Inaugurating the scheme, state Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran said Kerala has the lowest coconut productivity among the southern states.
“Land reform has made farm holdings small and most of the farmers now raise coconut as a household crop affecting productivity. The farmers in other states have large farms and they have the facility to process coconuts to add value to their produce,” the minister said.
Ratnakaran said that while the prices of all other edible oils are going up, coconut oil prices are going down.
“Keralites should increase consumption of coconut oil and use the soaps made in the state to boost the price of coconut oil and coconut.”
The coconuts will be procured through the Kerafed (Kerala Kerakarshaka Sahakarna Federation Ltd), an apex body of cooperative societies involving coconut farmers.
The procurement at the grass-root level will be entrusted with the cooperative institutions, Kudumbasree self-help group units and farmers clusters, which will process the coconuts into copra (dried coconut kernel used for making oil) and sell it to the Kerafed.
The minister said that 2008 will be observed as the year of the coconut in the state and the government is also planning to organize a World Coconut Meet in Kochi next year.