The much-hyped online trading in copra (dry coconut), launched in February this year at Tiptur has not helped farmers.
The price of copra has plummeted to Rs. 11,333 per quintal and the farmers are planning not to sell their produce to merchants in the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) yard.
The problem is that the new system has not brought in new traders, resulting in farmers not getting competitive prices. More importantly, it has not eliminated malpractices. B.S. Devaraj, State secretary of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sanga, said the price of copra in Delhi is Rs. 300 per kilo but merchants in Tiptur are buying copra at Rs.145 per kilo. He alleged that the rates had come down due to a merchants’ lobby
B.R.Vishwanath, president of Copra Merchants’ Association, Tiptur, on the other hand, argued that the rates had dropped as the demand had come down.
K.C. Doreswamy, APMC secretary told The Hindu that banks had agreed to open zero-balance accounts for farmers to facilitate online payment.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/online-trading-in-copra-fails-to-help-farmers/article6628601.ece