The Centre has declared Minimum Support Price (MSP) for mature dehusked coconut for the season 2020 at Rs 2,700 per quintal, thus hiking the MSP by 5.02 per cent from Rs 2,571 per quintal during season 2019.
Giving this information, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar said that the Central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given utmost importance to the interests of farmers growing all kinds of crops throughout the country.
The hike in the MSP for mature dehusked coconut facilitates procurement of fresh coconut thereby ensuring that the benefit of MSP reaches the millions of smallholder coconut farmers.
Tomar said that coconut being a small holder's crop, aggregation and arranging copra making facility at farmer's level is not common. Even though MSP for milling copra is Rs 9,960 per quintal for 2020 crop season, declaration of higher MSP for dehusked coconut ensures immediate cash to the small farmers, who are unable to hold the product and who are having insufficient facility for copra making.
This will be a relief to the coconut farmers who are already affected by the pandemic and the consequent disruption in the supply chain.
( With inputs from ANI )