The multi-state cooperative Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) Ltd is planning to venture into the business of pepper.

In this regard, Campco will seek approval from the grower-members at its 41st annual general meeting in Mangaluru on August 30.

The cooperative has sought amendments to its bye-laws to procure, process and to sell pepper. Now Campco deals in the procurement, processing and sales of arecanut, cocoa and rubber.

Suresh Bhandary, Managing Director of Campco, told BusinessLine that many farmers grow pepper as an intercrop in their arecanut plantations.

Profit, dividend In several meetings with growers on various occasions, they had sought facilities to market pepper grown in their plantations. Considering this, it was decided to seek the approval from the general body of the cooperative to amend the bye-laws to include pepper in Campco’s business, he said.

The financial year 2014-15 saw the cooperative recording a net profit of ₹49.57 crore as against ₹39.93 crore in 2013-14, registering a growth of 24.14 per cent. The board of directors of Campco has recommended a dividend of 15 per cent to its grower members.

Arecanut contributed a significant share to the revenue of Campco. During 2014-15, Campco purchased 45,497.41 tonnes of arecanut valued at ₹1,241.78 crore, and sold 47,346.43 tonnes worth ₹1,292.77 crore.

The cooperative procured 5,525.86 tonnes of wet cocoa beans worth ₹31.98 crore and 1,457.97 tonnes of dry beans worth ₹31.35 crore during the same year.

The total production at Campco’s chocolate factory in Puttur stood at 13,575.25 tonnes during 2014-15. Of this, the cooperative produced 10,388.73 tonnes in its own brand.

Campco purchased 1,463.09 tonnes of rubber valued ₹17.95 crore and sold 1,500.88 tonnes worth ₹18.91 crore during 2014-15.

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