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Women try out coconut tree climbing

Malappuram: Acute shortage of men to climb coconut trees has forced the Agriculture Department in Kerala to woo women to enter the profession.

A training for women in coconut climbing was organised by the Kirshi Bhavan under the Agriculture Department at Vattamkulam village here.

“The response from women of all communities in the village has been quite encouraging,” Agricultural Officer Abdul Jabbar said.

Twenty women participated in the programme and one among them, 25-year-old Rabia, conquered the tallest coconut tree in the area in just five minutes on Wednesday. Initially, women were shy to come forward.

But finally one of them showed the guts to try her hand in the job and many followed suit, a villager said. For coconut climbing, a metallic device designed by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, was used.

The programme envisaged giving hands-on training to women in tree climbing and a variety of farm jobs, Mr. Jabbar said.

Paucity of coconut pluckers is a serious problem being faced by coconut farmers and the Agriculture Department had recently mooted the idea of starting a school to give training in tree climbing and allied farm works. — PTI

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