The ruling front and opposition bickered in the Assembly on February 14 over who was responsible for the decline of the coconut farming sector in Kerala.
An adjournment notice moved by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) legislator Kurukkoli Moideen during Zero Hour triggered the debate that culminated in a walkout by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) opposition.
Mr. Moideen accused the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of halting coconut procurement and depriving farmers of incentives to replant ageing groves with new high-yielding, dwarfish and blight-resistant hybrid coconut saplings.
He demanded that the government declare a minimum support price of ₹42 per kilogram for coconut.
Mr. Moideen said coconut harvesting has become increasingly expensive, with pluckers charging at least ₹60 to scale a palm. Desperate coconut farmers were forced to sell their harvest at throw-away prices to meet the labour-intensive production and harvesting costs.
Mr. Moideen said the government coconut procurement remained on paper. The State had only three procurement centres in Malappuram, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram.
“Coconut farmers in other districts must ferry their harvest to these far-flung centres, hoping for a decent price. The government’s procurement price is often pitiable and fluctuating, and payments to farmers are delayed inordinately”, he said.
Other States outpace Kerala
Mr. Moideen said Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra have fast-outpaced Kerala in coconut production. Coconut farming, he claimed, was highly profitable in these States, given the relatively affordable labour and government support, including subsidies for fertilisers and replanting.
Moreover, the State governments encouraged copra and coconut oil production by aiding farmers in setting up oil presses and providing power at subsidised rates.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the LDF government had left coconut, rubber and pepper farmers in the lurch. The LDF’s pro-farmer pronouncements remained largely on paper.
Government blames UPA rule
Agriculture Minister P. Prasad said the Manmohan Singh government was primarily responsible for the agrarian crisis.
He said the Congress-led UPA government had signed the ASEAN accord, which opened the door for foreign growers to flood the country’s market with latex, rubber compound, pepper, coconuts and palm oil, destroying the local economy.
Mr. Prasad said the BJP-led NDA government merely followed up on Congress’s import policy. “States have been crying hoarse to invoke anti-dumping provisions to alleviate the distress of local farmers. However, the BJP has looked the other way. It’s now focused on striking more free trade agreements with Australia and European Union,” Mr. Prasad said.
He said coconut, palm oil, and spices, including pepper grown in Southeast Asian countries, crowded shop shelves and vendors sold them at competitive prices. The free trade agreements have pushed locally produced crops out of the market.
Mr. Prasad said the UDF’s adjournment notice intriguingly insulated the BJP-led Central government from any blame and sought to scapegoat the LDF. It dovetailed with Congress’s policy of forsaking the politically bipartisan struggle of non-BJP State governments for their federal rights and due share of the national revenue.
Congress has yet to complain about the Centre’s systematic whittling down subsidies for farmers while allowing the price of fertilisers to skyrocket.
Mr. Prasad said government intervention had increased coconut oil production. It planned agro-parks to help entrepreneurs make value-added products from coconuts.
Speaker A.N. Shamsheer denied the UDF’s adjournment notice.
