MANGALORE: The South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements (SICCFM) organized a mass protest at New Mangalore Port here on Monday demanding a ban on the import of cheap edible oil and agricultural produce from foreign countries in the state.
SICCFM members said that the import of cheap edible oils like palm oil from Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines was affecting indigenous edible oil industries in the state badly.
The oil is being imported through NMP after neighbouring state Kerala banned entry of imported edible oil from their ports. The farmers claimed that the import has affected them and edible oil industries in the country. The production of local edible oil too has come down drastically due to the import of cheap edible oil. Customers too were deprived of pure varieties of local oil as the imported cheap oil was being mixed with the local oil varieties. As a result, more than 150 edible oil units in Chitradurga had to shut shop. The farmers growing edible oil seeds too are affected, as they are not getting proper prices for their products due to the wide availability of cheap oil, they said. SICCFM has planned to file a PIL in the Karnataka High Court in this connection.
NMP management said they had not received any memorandum from the SICCFM. The farmers protested at NMP for about two hours from 11 am.
Source : TOI