The coconut growing community has urged for a healthy pricing mechanism so as to ensure stability of prices of coconut oil.
Stating that the instability in coconut oil and copra prices is posing a serious threat to farmers, N. Ananthan, former secretary of Cochin Oil Merchants Association, said that the need of the hour is to stabilise the prices at a reasonable and optimum level beneficial to growers as well as attractive to consumers by avoiding wide fluctuation.
Though the coconut oil price touched an all time high of Rs 10,600 a quintal in May, 2011, he said the prices dropped to Rs 5,450 in one year. The fluctuations in coconut oil price are much higher than other edible oils in the country, he added.
The growers are disillusioned a lot as they are still at the mercy of the market forces due to lack of healthy pricing system. Given the situation, he stressed the need to evolve a healthy pricing mechanism for which a holistic approach is needed. It will require innovation and flexible mindsets based on changing times, he added.
He also called for multi-pronged efforts in making the price stable at a reasonable level. The State Government and the Coconut Development Board should initiate steps to debate the basic issues involved in the most useful perennial crop in a meaningful manner, he added.
Coconut is grown on 19 lakh hectares in the country with an estimated annual production of 16 billion nuts. The crop sustains about 12 million people in cultivation and processing mainly in south India.
Coconut (64 per cent oil bearing seed) though included in the category of oil seeds in 1991, it does not appear to carry the same weightage like that of other oil seeds in the country.