Amidst the productivity crisis in coconuts, the Central Plantation Crop Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasargode has spawned R&D initiatives to beef up returns for coconut farmers. Its World Bank-backed ICAR project is supported by the Central Food Technology Research Institute (Mysore) and Kerala State Forest Research Institute (Thrissur) too.
?The Rs 4.5-crore coconut value chain R&D project will be completed by 2012,? George V Thomas (director, CPRCI-Kasargode) told FE.
While the quality of planting material is a crucial input in maximising productivity, the institute has released four high-yielding varieties, (Kalpadhenu, Kalpapratibha, Kalparaksha and Kalpamitra) last week. Among these, the Andaman Nicobar variety Kalpadhenu – suitable for the west coast – claims a yield of 13,973 nuts per year per hectre.
The flipside, however, is that none of these varieties will be available in commercial scale when the Coconut Development Board?s (CDB) ambitious coconut tree replanting mission takes off. The clustor model has already taken shape as a pilot project in Kerala. The replanting will have to make do with the West Coast Tall varieties, developed by the CPCRI-Kayamkulam earlier, Thomas said.
The thrust of ICAR project (under national agricultural innovation scheme) in coconut is product development as much as nut productivity development. Since the coconut oil market is perched delicately between the vagaries of toiletry market segment and edible oil imports, the need for viable byproducts has never been hotter.
Beyond R&D, the entrepreneur shyness to make the most of the technologies needs to be tackled, says P Rethinam, former chairman, CDB. The value-chain project brings back to sad limelight the huge gaps in optimising the market potential of state-of-the-art technology on vinegar and softdrink from coconut water, packaged tender coconut water concentrate, Nata-de-coco (a coconut water-based jelly-like delicacy), coconut toddy and coconut fenni.