Coconut farmers in Dindigul district on Monday staged a protest in front of the Collectorate urging the Central and the State governments to fulfil their demands, including direct procurement of coconuts and fixing a better minimum support price.

More than 50 coconut farmers participated in the protest and raised slogans against the Central and the State governments. They said fulfillment of the demands was crucial to their livelihood.

They said India was a leader in coconut production and Tamil Nadu alone accounted for approximately 4.9 lakh hectares of coconut cultivation. However, the coconut farmers were affected due to various issues such as drought, water scarcity, heat stress and disease outbreaks, they said.

They urged the government to provide assistance to control disease outbreaks and to allocate the necessary funds for development of effective remedies.

They demanded the government to directly procure coconuts to safeguard the livelihood of the farmers. They said last year, coconuts fetched a good price. However, prices have dropped now. Therefore, the government should take steps to procure coconuts, they said.