TIRUCHY: Coconut farmers from Thanjavur staged a road block protest on Tuesday demanding the distribution of coconut oil in the PDS outlets and decent pricing for the oil seeds like coconut, sesame and groundnut.

According to the protesting farmers, those who cultivate oil seeds are facing a huge loss due to poor pricing.

They said that the Tamil Nadu government has been importing around 2 crore litres of palm oil for Rs 100 per litre from Indonesia and Malaysia and selling them for Rs 25 per litre through the PDS outlets.

DMK election promise of procuring copra has not been fulfilled and the price has also come down. East Coast Coconut Farmers Association led by the president EV Gandhi staged a road block protest at Pattukkottai-Aranthangi road.

Police team led by DSP Prithviraj Chauhan held talks with the agitating farmers and later arrested the protesting members.