Union Government has permitted the Tamil Nadu state government to procure 40,000 tonnes of copra during the current year. The rates will be Rs 99.6 per kg for the former and Rs 103 per kg for the latter.
According to the Hindu, 39,500 tonnes of the total quantity will be milling copra and the rest 500 tonnes for ball copra. Shashi Bhushan, Director in the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare told the State government that the announcement on the procurement will lead to increase in wholesale prices of copra in the open market which may ultimately turn out to be beneficial to the farmers.
These procured copras are marginally higher than the previous year’s per-kg rates of Rs 95.21 and Rs 99.2 for milling and ball copra respectively. In 2018-19, the rates were Rs 75.11 and Rs 77.5.
Regulated market committees in coordination with the Agricultural Marketing department will procure the produce on behalf of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed), which will eventually reimburse the amount to the State agencies. The procurement will be done on the line of pulses.
An official in the State Agriculture Department says that farmers in the western region and Cauvery delta have demanded that the State government make arrangements for procurement. The Centre has now given the permission in response to a request of the State government.
