He said that he would stage a protest from August 1 to 31 in 31 villages to press for their demands to protect the livelihood of coconut traders. The non-party farmers' union and the Yermunai youth wing have also announced that they will gherao the secretariat if the Tamil Nadu government does not pay attention to it.
Tirupur: The non-party farmers' association and the Ermunai youth wing have announced that they will go on a coconut breaking protest throughout August demanding protection of coconut traders.
Speaking to reporters at the office of the Non-Party Tamil Nadu Farmers' Association in Tirupur, Vetri, working president of the Yermunai youth wing, said,
In a situation where coconut prices are falling, the Government of Tamil Nadu should procure copra from the farmers without any conditions so as to protect the livelihood of the farmers who have coconut trees in more than 5 lakh hectares of agricultural land across the state.
The procurement price of copra coconut should be increased to Rs 140. Steps should be taken to supply coconut oil instead of supplying palm oil imported from abroad at ration shops.
The 35-year-old ban on toddy should be lifted and permission should be granted to toddy to draw the attention of the Government of Tamil Nadu to the demands including From August 1, 31 villages have been selected in different parts of Tiruppur district and 31 villages will be held on a daily basis.
If the Tamil Nadu government does not take note of this, it has been decided to gherao the secretariat and stage a protest to break coconuts. This is what he said.