Trade circles here, however, blamed the state for not doing anything to prop up the prices while demanding a higher MSP. Source said copra prices had been steadily declining over the last couple of months but the state government did precious little to bail out the growers from the crisis.

The industry insiders said the average price of copra during May was hovering around Rs 26 per kg, Rs 1 lower than the MSP. This was the lowest ever price quoted during the last two years, they said. The prices were steadily declining over the months from Rs 2,750 in March to the current level of Rs 2,600 per quintal in May.

However, the insiderssaid the government had not so far done anything to help the growers even as the current season is due to be over in June. They said the government's demand for a steep hike in the support price did not make any sense for the growers as there was no mechanism to support the prices if it went below the MSP.

The trade circles said Kerafed, a state-run agency, was supposed to start procurement of 20,000 tonnes of copra from April. But the agency so far did not make any purchase. They also said that Kerafed had notified that it was going to purchase copra from the open market at the ruling market price. This clearly pointed to the step-motherly attitude of the government towards the 33 lakh-odd coconut farmers in the state.