Copra procurement put off as govt cracks down on fraudulent registration

Bengaluru: Agriculture Marketing Minister Shivanand Patil on Wednesday told the Assembly that the government has ordered investigation into irregularities in registration of copra farmers for procurement. 

Patil said nine officials were found to have manipulated registration process. They will face action, he said. "To fix problems, we've decided to put off procurement by a week," he said. 

"There are 7-8 copra-producing districts. There are problems especially in Hassan. The area under copra cultivation and number of farmers are less in Hassan. In Tumakuru, production of copra is highest. Unfortunately, number of farmers here is not more than in Hassan. However, number of farmers who registered in Hassan is high," Patil said. 

Patil said registration codes & computer were provided to officials. "But they got their own computers. Some traders went to homes of farmers and did registration in Hassan. Some 4,000 farmers from other districts were found to have registered," he said. 

"We will review all registrations. Real farmers will be identified. The government wants to procure from real farmers so that traders don't benefit," Patil said. This time, government wants to procure mill copra. "Usually, we procure ball copra. We've sought Centre's permission to procure mill copra," he said.