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The Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday that the Government is exploring the possibility of extending the scheme of replanting and rejuvenating coconut gardens to the entire country.
The programme was implemented on pilot basis in Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2009. Later, it was extended throughout Kerala.
Speaking after distributing the national awards of Coconut Development Board in New Delhi, Pawar called for intensified research to produce high yielding and early bearing varieties for optimising farmers’ income.
He said that the share of India in world coconut production and productivity is 26.34 per cent and 10,736 nuts/hectare respectively, the highest. World coconut production is 63.33 billion nuts from an area of 12.26 million hectares.
Though India tops in coconut production and productivity, he said the country is lagging behind in processing, value-addition and exports. The country’s position in value addition is 22 and in the case of exports, it is 25{+t}{+h}.
KV Thomas, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said that Friends of Coconut Tree training programme initiated by the Board is a role model for creating skilled “green collar jobs” in the agriculture sector, which has high potential in many crops too.
More than 22,000 unemployed youth has been trained under this programme, the Minister said adding that that the shortage of edible oil has also opened up opportunity to coconut farmers.
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