Karnataka - Mangalore   

CAMPCO may procure coconut, pepper

MANGALORE: Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (CAMPCO) Ltd. is contemplating procuring coconut and pepper from farmers, according to its president Konkodi Padmanabha.

He told presspersons on the sidelines of a function organised to release bath soaps made of arecanut here on Wednesday that a proposal in this regard would be placed at the general body meeting of CAMPCO this September. The general body's approval would be sought for amending the cooperative's bylaws for enabling it to procure coconut and pepper.

CAMPCO, a cooperative of Karnataka and Kerala, procures arecanut, rubber and cocoa from farmers.He said CAMPCO would set up another windmill to reduce its dependency on grid power at its chocolate factory in Puttur. The 2.1-MW windmill would be set up at Chikkodi by March 2012. This would be in addition to the 1.25 MW windmill commissioned at Halthimalapura in Hoovinahadagali taluk of Bellary district two years ago. Its first windmill started operation on March 31, 2009. It generated 25 lakh units of power in 2009-10 and 21 lakh units in 2010-11.Mr. Padmanabha said that the chocolate factory produced 13,000 tonnes of semi-finished cocoa products in 2010-11. It aimed at increasing it to 17,000 tonnes this financial year.

Earlier at the function, he released “Pooga Singar”, a bath soap made of arecanut, manufactured by P. Shankar Bhat Badanaje, a farmer-cum-researcher of Vitla.

Addressing the gathering, he said that CAMPCO would ensure that the soaps were available for sale at its procurement centres. Mr. Badanaje said that researchers should come forward to produce value-added products out of arecanut.They should meet the requirements of consumers in the modern era. Using areca extract he had produced a soap and lipstick.Progressive farmer D.C. Chowta Manchi Srinivasa Achar spoke.

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