THANJAVUR: Mentioning the hike in minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 445 per quintal announced recently for the milling copra variety for the 2026 season “very less”, coconut farmers in Thanjavur, which is one of the largest producers of the crop in the state, demand a further increase by Rs 1,000/quintal so as to stabilise the market price of the fruit.
In its meeting held on December 12, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the prime minister approved the MSP for fair average quality milling copra for the upcoming season to be fixed at Rs 12,027/quintal, and that of ball copra at Rs 12,500 per quintal.
This marks a hike of Rs 445/quintal for milling copra and Rs 400/quintal for ball copra from last season. The copra would be procured at the agriculture regulated markets at the designated period. On the support prices, E V Gandhi of Marungapallam and president of the East-Coast Coconut Farmers' Association (ECFA) said, "The MSP fixed by the Union government is very less than the ruling market price of copra, which is around Rs 18,000/quintal. Though the government has been saying the hike is more than that of the past few years, the price needs to be hiked further by Rs 1,000 per quintal."
It may be noted that for the 2025 season the MSP for milling copra was hiked by Rs 422 compared to the previous season. For the 2024 season, there was a hike by Rs 300 compared to the previous season. "Though most farmers in Thanjavur district don't make copra and sell coconut instead, the MSP for copra influences the procurement price fixed by the traders for coconut," Gandhi added.
According to horticulture department officials, coconut is cultivated on 43,166 hectares in Thanjavur district, mostly in coastal areas and in Orathanadu block. Meanwhile, S Nagarajan, a coconunt farmer, lamented the price of the fruit as well as copra seeing a “sudden fall” over the period of a month.
"During last month copra was selling at Rs 262/kg. Now it is selling at around Rs 180/kg. Similarly a single coconut which was selling at Rs 36 last month is selling only at Rs 25 now," he said. As for the traders, who purchase coconut from farmers, there has not been enough demand for the fruit.
"As there has been only a slight increase of around 10% in production in recent months, it might not be behind the price drop," Gandhi said, adding that farmers are hopeful of an increase in procurement price ahead of Pongal.