Farmers urge Coconut Development Board to drop condition for registration

KOCHI: The national conference of the All-India Coconut Growers' Federation has asked the Central Coconut Development Board to exempt the existing coconut producer companies from the condition that they should have an authorised minimum capital and paid up capital of Rs 1 crore and Rs 50 lakh respectively to be qualified for their registration in the Central Coconut Development Board.

Jacob Pulikkan, national co-ordinator of the federation, said the board took the decision ignoring the fact that such producer companies are formed and registered under the Companies Act 2013 as insisted by the board itself and hence it is a cheating on the part of the Board. "So the condition should be withdrawn as far as such existing companies are concerned," he said.

The meeting also raised various demands with the Central Government and the concerned State Governments and also the Central Coconut Development Board. The demands include ensuring remunerative support price for coconut, providing interest-free long-term loans to producers, introducing effective marketing network and organised wholesales markets exclusively for coconut, not allowing import of copra under advanced authorization scheme, enhancing subsidies for fertilizers and manure, providing special assistance package for value addition units, implementing the proposals put forward by Farmers Commission led by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan and including the representatives of the All-India Coconut Growers Federation in the Director Board of the Central Coconut Development Board.

The national meeting was presided over by national president G.V.Harshakumar (former MP). The meet also decided to conduct a rally and dharna at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi in the last week of August to invite the attention of the governments and of the Central Coconut Development Board on the demands.