The Agricultural Prices Commission of India will be visiting the Coconut Development Board on August 23 to convene discussions on formulating a price policy for copra for the 2013 season.
The Commission will be headed by Ashok Gulati, Chairman, CACP (Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) and members A.K. Vishandass, Adviser, A.K. Jena and Anandi Subramanian.
CACP advises the Government on the price policy of major agricultural commodities with a view to evolving a balanced and integrated price structure in keeping with the overall needs of the economy and the interests of the producer and the consumer.
The team will discuss with officials of the CDB, State Government, State Agricultural Prices Board and farmers’ representatives. The Coconut Development Board has submitted a draft price policy for the 2013 season to CACP.
In order to formulate a price policy for copra in the 2012 -13 season, the commission will also hold discussions with coconut growers’ representatives at Pollachi, an area with potential area in Tamil Nadu on August 24. Farmer representatives can also submit representations to the team.
Keywords: Agricultural Prices Commission of India, Agricultural Prices Commission of India, to visit Coconut Development Board, price policy for copra, 2013 season, Coconut Development Board
Comments:
Emphasis on coconut oil as edible oil needs review in view of continuing fall in prices and
coconut farmers are in financial turmoil.Coconut oil is unable to compete with other edible
oils like palmoil.sunflower,ground nut and refined oils.As tender coconut water in tetra
packs,the market though competitive,is quite vast.The current retail price of tender nut for
water is Rs 20-30/ nut.Chips,frozen kernel bits,coconut powders,coconut milk
concentrates,virgin coconut oils,coconut based bakery items,neera and neera based
products if made scale positive can add and accelerate income of coconut farmers.If
minimum support price is fixed based only on copra/oil prices,there may not be any takers
and mature coconuts will get heaped in homesteads without anyone to purchase.Promotion
for value added products,allowing farmers to harvest neera from coconut and cutting down
coconuts affected by root/wilt diseases are a few steps to be taken.
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