Pollachi MP K. Shanmuga Sundaram in a letter addressed to the Ministry of Agriculture has urged that the government should ban the import of coconut oil, to safeguard the livelihood of coconut farmers in places like Pollachi.
Coimbatore: Pollachi MP K. Shanmuga Sundaram in a letter addressed to the Ministry of Agriculture has urged that the government should ban the import of coconut oil, to safeguard the livelihood of coconut farmers in places like Pollachi
The MP has stated in the letter that Pollachi Constituency in Tamil Nadu is world renowned for its Coconuts and contributes a lot in Coconut Cultivation in Tamilnadu.
Bemoaning the fact that over the past year. the price of Milling Copra has been on a downfall the MP has stated "the prices of Coconut and Copra have seen a sharp 50% fall compared to 2021. While a single coconut was priced at Rs. 16 and a kilogram of Copra was Rs. 150 in 2021.
"But this year it has reduced to Rs. 8 for a nut and Rs. 80 for a kilogram of copra. The rising costs of fertilizers, Urea, and Potash in particular coupled with increasing labor costs which have risen by more than 50% since 2021 have adversely affected the farmers" the letter said.
"The sudden uptick in Whitefly and Root Wilt Disease (RWD) in the past few months has also led to the decline in production. As there are no government schemes or subsidies for the cultivation of coconuts, production has drastically decreased by 50% in the last one year." The MP noted.
"The decision of the Government to levy zero duty on Edible Oils has also affected the coconut growing farmers as the demand for natively produced coconut oil has gone down owing to the imported oils. Even the present market price of Copra which is hovering around Rs. 75 per kilogram is only duc to the procurement of 50000 tons of copra by NAFED, without which the market price of copra would be even lesser compared to the MSP of Rs. 105.95 per KG which is insufficient" the MP stated.
"Hence, I request you to take cognizance of this situation and immediately ban the import of coconut oil at the least until the market price of Copra increases above the MSP" the MP has noted in his letter..
"I also request the Union Government to consider the usage of Coconut Oil in Government Schemes such as PDS to promote the farmers and oil millers of the country" the letter further added..