Coconut farmers of Karnataka supported by Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) have planned a Raj Bhavan Chalo agitation on Tuesday seeking a minimum support price (MSP) of ₹20,000 per quintal from the Centre and an additional incentive of ₹5,000 per quintal from the State government.
KRRS leader Badagalapura Nagendra said the coconut farmers in the State were in sheer distress over the collapse in the price of copra from ₹18,000 per quintal to a mere ₹7,000 per quintal over the last five to six years.
Attributing the collapse in prices to the anti-farmer import-export policy of the Centre, Mr. Nagendra said India was importing palm oil from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and soya oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine. The Centre was importing even coconut oil from Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi and Thailand, he alleged while claiming that the demand for coconut products in India had come down because of these imports, leading to a collapse in prices of copra.
