The Hindu : Business : Board seeks subsidy for coconut replanting

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Saturday, Feb 23, 2008
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Board seeks subsidy for coconut replanting

Staff Reporter

Cluster approach mooted

Four lakh hectares in Kerala need replanting
35 lakh families depend on coconut farming

KOCHI: The Coconut Development Board has submitted a proposal to the Union government for providing subsidy for replanting coconut palms.

The plan is to provide subsidy of Rs.27,000 per hectare. It has been accepted in principle by the Planning Commission and needs approval of the Union Cabinet, according to Board Chairperson Minnie Mathew.

She was inaugurating a seminar on Kerala and coconut farming, organised by the Department of Agriculture as part of the ongoing Agrifair here on Friday.

She said it would be a 10-year programme. About four lakh hectares in Kerala needed replanting. The programme was aimed at increasing productivity. Kerala’s share had decreased from 69 per cent of the national production in the sixties to 43 per cent now.

Kerala’s production was about 7,000 coconuts per hectare in 2005-06 while Tamil Nadu had a production of over 13,000.

About 35 lakh families depended on coconut farming in Kerala.

She advocated a cluster approach for coconut farming. Clusters of about 25 hectares could make use of loans from banks and reimbursement facility at the rate of Rs.17,500 per hectare per year would be available from the board.

There were more than 100 clusters involving about 25,000 farmers in Kerala.

The board had a technology mission under which up to Rs.50 lakh was available for taking up ventures involving coconut-based technology such as production of virgin coconut oil and packaged tender coconut water.

Several entrepreneurs were hesitant to take up coconut-based enterprises owing to apprehensions about adequate supply of coconuts. Many of the projects would require 30,000 to 50,000 coconuts on a daily basis. Despite several handicaps, the latest production figures registered a marginal increase in Kerala, she said.

M.Sukumara Pillai, Chairman, Kerafed, said coconut farming was getting benefit as a plantation crop in several neighbouring States.

The small size of the farms in Kerala proved to be a handicap.

Farmers were forced to adopt distress sale in the absence of organised activity. He alleged that ‘oil monopolies’ were behind a campaign against coconut oil though several scientists established that the charges were unfounded. He urged women’s groups to take up making and marketing of value added coconut products.

Ahmed Bavappa, former director, CPCRI, said one of the prominent reasons behind low productivity in Kerala was the non-induction of high-yielding varieties.

Proper care was not being given to the coconut farms unlike rubber plantations. He urged people to actively promote the use of tender coconut water.

Inter-cropping pattern in coconut plantations could boost the income of farmers. Alternative methods for plucking coconuts should also be encouraged, he said.

P.K. Thampan, former Chief Coconut Development Officer, described ordinary methods for production of value added products such as virgin coconut oil, coconut vinegar, coconut syrup and coconut wine.

Cardiologist George Eeraly spoke on the benefits deriving out of consumption of coconut oil.

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