India leads the coconut growing countries in production and productivity though the area under cultivation is lower than other major growing countries, Narendra Singh Tomar, the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has said.

In his inaugural address to commemorate the foundation day of the International Coconut Community, the Minister said production during 2020-21 was 21,207 million nuts which account for more than 34 per cent of the global production. The productivity has been recorded at 9,687 nuts per hectare which is the highest in the world. New products are brought into the markets, and coconut industries are growing, creating more employment opportunities for many farmers, adding that coconut has a strong influence on the national economy.

He said there are at present 9785 Coconut Producer Societies, 747 Federations and 67 Coconut Producer Companies covering 120 million palms belonging to 10 lakh coconut growers.

Sushri Shobha Karandlaje, the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, called upon farmers to give a major thrust to product diversification and finding industrial utilisation of various by-products and their value addition. Since the farmers are small and marginal, the future of the domestic coconut industry lies in the ability to aggregate and pool farm level coconut production, take up processing and value addition for better income realization.

Kailash Choudhary, the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, said that the coconut processing sector offers immense potential for diversification of product basket and improved investments in traditional and innovative coconut products. Coconut can be made a part of the ‘Make in India’ campaign by increasing the production and export of value-added products.

Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare said Coconut Development Board is working with the mission to develop a globally competitive coconut sector that contributes to food security, health and nutrition, remunerative price for the coconut farmer and enhanced export earnings for the country and to make India the global leader in value addition and processing in coconut sector. Export of coconut products excluding coir products during the year 2020-21 touched ₹2,294.82 crore, recording an increase of about 30 per cent over the previous year.

The theme announced by ICC in 2021, for its 23rd edition of celebrations, is “ Building a safe, inclusive resilient and sustainable coconut community amid Covid-19 pandemic and beyond”.

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