Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Farmers urged to grow cocoa as an inter crop

COIMBATORE: As there is a good price for cocoa beans – Rs. 160 a kg – coconut farmers can augment their income by growing cocoa as an inter crop, the Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) P. Murugesa Boopathi, has suggested.

Speaking at the annual research meet on Palm Crops at the university recently, the Vice-Chancellor said TNAU would take up trials in farmers' fields to standardise packages of practices for growing cocoa as an inter crop. “The university is planning to produce good quality cocoa planting material for the benefit of farmers,” he added.

He also said that since palmyrah was a subsistence crop for the economically weaker sections, the university had plans to take up new schemes on the plant. Growing palmyrah had several advantages, especially for effective soil conservation.

P. Rethinam, former Executive Director, Asian and Pacific Coconut Committee, Jakarta, and former Director, Coconut Development Board, said the causes for low productivity included old and senile plantations, sparse population, non-descriptive varieties, poor soil fertility management, pest and diseases, inappropriate soil and water management, and natural disasters like cyclone and droughts.

Since tender coconuts fetched a good price, farmers were urged to earmark 50 per cent of the area for its cultivation.

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