The Hindu Business Line : Copra buys put on hold in Coimbatore

The Joint Registrar of the Coimbatore District Co-operative Societies, Mr K. Bharathan, told Business Line that procurement would resume as soon as the Centre clears the proposal.

Copra procurement had plunged to 2,359.08 tonnes during the last fiscal compared to a high of 30,072.629 tonnes during the previous year. According to Mr Bharathan, the society had procured only for 3-4 months in 2001-02 at rates that were higher when compared to open market rates.

While in the open market, copra was being quoted at Rs 25 per kg, the society had paid the farmer at Rs 33 per kg, and the total outgo was around Rs 7.79 crore.

Of the 3,302 farmers registered with the Co-operative Societies, only 995 farmers pooled their stock of copra with the society during the last fiscal, he said, and pointed out that many of the farmers were not into copra production for want of infrastructure facilities.

Following allegations that besides farmers, traders had also pooled their stock of copra during the 2000-01 fiscal, the guidelines in enrolment and procurement from the registered farmers had been further tightened, Mr Bharathan said.

There are five centres for procurement of copra in Coimbatore District— at Pollachi, Anamallais, Udumalpet, Palani and Coimbatore. Fifty per cent of the production is from Pollachi and Anamallais centres.

The Joint Registrar hoped that another 3,000-4,000 farmers would enrol themselves during the current fiscal and the price (to be) fixed by the Government would also be higher than the current rate (Rs 33 per kg).

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