By: Dr. Ripudaman Singh (Special Correspondent ICN Group) & Hemant Kumar ( Agriculture Correspondent ICN Group)
NEW DELHI: Kerala has regained the top spot in coconut production, surpassing the other major producers –Tamil Nadu and Karnataka – in the 2016-17 agriculture year.
With 7.70-lakh hectares (ha) of cultivated area, Kerala’s coconut production touched 7464.25 million nuts, while that of Tamil Nadu was 6171.07 million nuts followed by Karnataka at 5128.89 million, Earlier, Kerala was in third position at 4896.61 million.
Replanting and rejuvenation schemes and Layout of Demonstration Plots (LOP) adopted by the Coconut Development Board have started to yield good results.
Moreover, the effective interventions of Farmers Producer Societies for cultivation and marketing, coupled with the scientific cultivation adopted by farmers, also helped to gain the desired results.
It may be recalled that Kerala was in the top position for a long period till 2010-11; later Tamil Nadu overtook given its advantage of high area under cultivation.
As far as Kerala is concerned, it is not possible to increase area-wise production because of high labour cost and utilisation of agriculture land for other purpose.
