MADURAI: Coconut farmers of Madurai have urged the Union government to bring in what they call “one nation, one coconut market” initiative to protect their livelihood.

Coconut farmers want the government to do away with inter-state cess levied on transporting coconut or its by-products. This assumes significance as they claim that farmers are going through a rough patch for a couple of years and expect support from the government to tide over the crisis.

Coconut farmers say that they are hit by a fall in the selling price. They are worried as by-products of coconut are also seeing a slide in price. The downward trend has been going unchecked for the past two years, they claim. Many coconut farmers have been rendered helpless as they find it difficult to shift to other crops as it is a long-term investment, said T Perumal, national vice president, Bharathiya Kisan Sangh, Vadipatti in Madurai.

Farmers who have to wait for about five to six years for crop yield after planting are finding it hard due to constant slide in prices. Decline in prices are hurting them more as the cultivation involves spending much of time and money. Coconut farmers are the worst hit during natural calamities, they say. Considering all these factors they have demanded the government to offer a production incentive of Rs 20,000 per acre to coconut farming every year and ease restrictions to sell coconuts and by-products across the country under a ‘one nation, one coconut market’ initiative they pitch for.

The demand gains significance as coconut by-product industries are also suffering due to non-availability of viable markets to sell products within their locality and in the state because of cheap imports, said T Perumal. The farmer leader urged the government to discourage the importing of coconuts by increasing levies.

The farmers have also demanded to declare 2025 as a ‘Coconut year’ in similar lines to how 2023 was declared as the “Millet year.”