MADURAI: Heeding to farmers' requests, the agriculture marketing department in Madurai has extended the procurement deadline of coconut and copra at MSP under the Price Support Scheme-2022 by NAFED till November.
Under the NAFED scheme, procurement of copra and coconut began in April at Rs 10,860 per quintal. Though the target for Madurai was set as 100 tonnes this year, the agriculture marketing department has already purchased 125 tonnes. This is a huge increase from the quantity obtained last year (16.9 tonnes).
As the procurement deadline ended in September, farmers in the district requested the authorities to extend the deadline till November 26. As their demand has now been met, farmers who had registered before September 30 can bring their copra for procurement at Melur and Vadipatti regulatory markets.
When contacted, Madurai agriculture marketing department's marketing committee's secretary V Mercy Jeyarani said copra will be procured based on its quality. "Other particles in the copra had to be less than 1%; fungal growth, blackening and wrinkling in copra should be less than 10% and moisture content should be less than 6%," she added.