Farmers urge Nafed to begin procurement

Farmers and political parties in Kerala are demanding procurement of copra by Nafed in order to avoid a crash in the market.

Kerafed, an apex farmers co-operative society of Kerala has already commenced procurement of copra at the support price of Rs 3,570 a quintal, but on a slower pace.

Growers said Nafed should enter the market soon as prices will crash once production season begins. So far Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments have not taken any action regarding market intervention and farmers expressed unhappiness over the governments' attitude.

The only way to bail out coconut oil and copra markets is procurement operations as all the parameters of the open market are absolutely ripe for a crash in prices.