Drastic changes needed in copra procurement policy

By R. Madhavan Nair

KOZHIKODE, NOV. 28. With the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) all set to resume copra procurement, a strong demand has emerged for drastic changes in the procurement policy to ensure that its benefits reach the coconut growers.

One such change that is being demanded is procurement of coconut instead of copra. This, many believe, will ensure that the benefits of procurement will reach coconut growers and not copra traders.

Experience has shown that the process of procurement of copra has failed to yield the desired results. A vocal supporter of the demand for procuring coconut instead of copra is the CPI leader, Mr. Sathyan Mokeri, who is also the State general secretary of his party's farmers' wing, the All India Kisan Sabha.

He points out that the real beneficiaries of the copra procurement policy were the copra traders and not coconut growers. During the tenure of the LDF Government, in which CPI was a constituent, the Nafed had procured as much as 85,000 tonnes of copra. Yet it did not achieve its objective of raising the market price of coconut. Instead, coconut became cheaper and the grower poorer.

Copra procurement turned out to be another classic instance of a well-conceived but badly executed scheme meant for farmers' welfare. Ironically, though coconut prices remained low in spite of procurement, the prices of coconut-based products had gone up, helping big industrial houses increase their profits.

Mr. Mokeri sums up the scenario thus. Last year the Nafed procured 85,000 tonnes of copra at a cost of Rs. 283.25 crores. This was made up of 47,000 tonnes procured by the Kerala Kera Karshaka Sahakarana Federation (Kerafed) and 38,000 tonnes collected through the Marketing Federation.

The Nafed is reported to be having in its godowns 38,000 tonnes of unsold copra. According to the Kisan Sabha, the Nafed had already sold 50,000 tonnes at Rs. 1,950 a quintal to traders. What this means is that traders would be having in their godowns copra bought from the Nafed at Rs 1,950 a quintal at a time and they would be able to sell it back to Nafed at the new procurement price of Rs. 3,300 a quintal.

Mr. Mokeri and other critics of the existing procurement policy believe that the traders who have purchased copra at Rs. 1,950 from the Nafed would be soon selling the commodity back to the Nafed at the revised procurement rate of Rs. 3,300, making a clear profit in the process. If one lorry-load of copra changes hands this way (one load is roughly 10 quintals), the trader pockets a profit of Rs. 1 lakh.

Such irregularities which deny the grower his legitimate benefits could be avoided to an extent if purchase advisory committees comprising growers' representatives, officials and people's representatives are set up in cooperative societies to monitor the purchases.

The committees would be able to ensure that the growers alone got the procurement benefits. The procurement exercise could also be made transparent by publishing periodically lists of the copra purchased from the growers.

The All India Kisan Sabha is gearing up for an agitation for a change in the procurement policy. Meetings are being organised throughout the State on November 29 to mobilise public support for the demand.

The Kisan Sabha's demand is that coconut should be purchased at a rate of Rs. 6 per nut and this change in policy should be introduced from the coming season. Coconuts could be procured through coconut committees formed by the Agriculture Department. Processing centres could be set up in all blocks as a long-term measure to help the growers get good returns. These centres could be made use of to convert coconut into copra which the Nafed could procure.

It is estimated that the cost of producing one coconut is Rs 3.50. Last year the total coconut output in the State was 516.70 crore and the farmer got on an average only Rs. 2 per nut. If the Kisan Sabha contention that the farmer should get Rs. 6 per coconut is accepted as legitimate, the total loss suffered by the growers in Kerala would be a mind-boggling Rs. 2,066.80 crores. Coconut prices have been low during the last three years.

One reason for the growing demand for arrangements to procure coconut instead of copra is that there is very little copra with the growers at present. A major chunk of copra stock had been sold to the traders by the growers.

Leaders of organisations like the Kisan Sabha which are unhappy with the present procurement policy believe that the traders are now in a position to make a tidy profit by selling their stock compiled from growers at a low rate to the Nafed and its agencies at the high procurement rate of Rs. 3,300 per quintal.

There already exist a few cooperatives which procure coconut instead of copra from the growers. One such cooperative at Thiruvambady in Kozhikode has been purchasing coconuts at around Rs. 7 a kg (sometimes 1 kg of coconut consists of as many as three dehusked coconuts).

The growers may get more if the Government extends the benefits of procurement to coconut instead of copra. A Nafed official admitted procuring coconut would be better from the growers' point of view but not necessarily for the cooperatives which effect the procurement.

This is because the copra obtained from these coconut need not always be of good quality. The Nafed has given clear instructions to cooperatives that only good quality copra should be procured.

But this need not be a hurdle to switching over to coconut procurement. The cooperatives can sell good quality copra obtained from the coconut procured to Nafed and sell the rest in open market.

The Kisan Sabha wants a procurement price of Rs. 6 per coconut. But, this demand has its critics. It is pointed out that the price of coconut has to be kept at a level that the common man can afford. A spurt in coconut price could trigger a rise in prices of coconut oil. This may turn counter-productive for the growers in the long run as the buyers may turn to cheaper oil for his daily needs.

The Nafed head office has given its green signal to start procurement as soon as the legal hurdle is removed (there is a stay on procurement). A Nafed spokesman said strict instructions would be issued to cooperatives to buy copra only from farmers.

The crash in coconut price has given rise to serious social problems in rural areas. Prosperity is fading from farmer's homes even in places such as Kuttiady in Kozhikode, which produces the much-sought-after coconuts having very high oil content.

Small-holders do not get prompt payment for coconuts sold to traders. Income of even big-time coconut planters has shrunk. Quick and effective action to revive the sagging fortunes of farmers is the need of the hour. And changes in copra procurement policy should be one small but crucial step in that direction.

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