Hundreds of coconut growers have been in a queue since March 3 afternoon to register themselves for the procurement of ball copra at support price in APMC markets in Hassan district of Karnartaka even though the process was set to begin at 10 a.m. on March 4.
Men and women from villages began queuing up at APMC markets in Channarayapatna, Shravanabelgola, Nuggehali and other registration centres in Hassan district on March 3. Though officers of National Agricultural Cooperatives Marketing Federation (NAFED) stated that farmers have 45 days to register, the growers are not ready to take a chance.
They have a good reason to be cautious.
Earlier, registration began on February 5, and ended within three days. Following allegations of irregularities in the process, registration was suspended. Fresh registration was scheduled for March 4.
NAFED procures copra at the support price of ₹12,000 per quintal through the Karnataka State Cooperative Marketing Federation. At the rate of six quintals per acre, the agencies will procure a maximum of 15 quintals from a farmer.
Dayanad, a coconut grower in Channarayapatna, told The Hindu that farmers started gathering at the local APMC market at 12 p.m. on March 3, almost 22 hours before the registration process was scheduled to start. “Farmers placed boulders with serial numbers in the queue when they wanted to step out for unavoidable reasons. Hundreds of farmers slept on the premises of the market at night so that they would be in the queue when registration began on March 4,” he said.
By 7 a.m. on March 4, around 2,000 coconut growers had gathered at the APMC market for registration. Similar scenes played out at other procurement centres in the district. The district administration sent police personnel to handle the crowds.
