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`Make coconut market stable by product diversification'

Our Bureau

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, July 11

PRODUCT diversification is one of the answers to the question of bringing stability to coconut industry in the country, according to Dr P. Rethinam, Chairman, Coconut Development Board.

He told newspersons here on Tuesday that there was daily variation of the price of the coconut oil and this was because of the availability and low prices of substitute oils in the market. This called for switching over to other value-added products to k eep the market for coconut market stable, he said.

As of now, more than 50 per cent of the coconut production in the country was used for culinary purposes. But, there was excellent scope for production of coconut-based items such as dessicated coconut, coconut cream and coconut milk powder, Dr Rethinam said.

In this context, he mooted the idea of forming ``coconut growers societies'' which could collectively take up the processing of coconut and its by-products and manufacturing of value-added items.

Giving statistics of the coconut industry in the country, he said the total production was in the region of 12,251 million nuts from an area of 17.77 lakh hectares. Of this, Kerala's share is 50.58 per cent in area, while its share in the production is o nly 42.17 per cent.

Tamil Nadu with 17.10 per cent share in area accounted for 26.3 per cent share in production. In the case of Andhra Pradesh, these were 5.72 per cent and 8.59 per cent, respectively.

The productivity in Kerala is only 5,747 nuts per hectare, while it is 10,599 nuts in Tamil Nadu and 10,342 nuts in Andhra Pradesh. There was scope for increasing the productivity in Kerala through proper crop management, Dr Rethinam said.

In this context, he said the Board had so far spent Rs. 112.54 crore in Kerala since inception, of which Rs. 30.09 crore was spent on mite control measures.

The board had initiated a technology development programme by setting up pilot plants for integrated coconut processing and other activities. Under the programme, aid to technological research projects, especially in the areas of product diversification and by-product utilisation, was given through recognised research institutions.

The board met 100 per cent of the expenditure and so far 14 research projects had been sponsored under the programme, he informed.