KOCHI:
Coconut Development Board (CDB) in its 51st meeting of the Project Approval Committee (PAC) on Technology Mission on Coconut (TMOC) held at Kochi under the Chairmanship of Dr. B.N.S. Murthy, Chairman, CDB approved 23 projects with an outlay of Rs. 22.69 Crores and financial assistance of Rs. 4.75 Crores with annual processing capacity of 521 lakh coconuts and 4200 MT production of coconut shell charcoal.
Out of 23 projects, there were 3 Research projects and 19 projects on Processing of coconuts for value addition and one project for Market Promotion. Under the sub component ‘Processing and Product Diversification’, 4 projects for Desiccated Coconut Powder for processing 330 lakh nuts per year, 4 Integrated Processing units for Desiccated Coconut Powder and Virgin Coconut Oil, Coconut milk & Sugar, Coconut vinegar and nata-de- coco and coconut water processing etc for processing 118.95 lakh nuts per year 1.5 lakh liter neera per year and 3 lakh litre matured coconut water per year, One Tender Coconut water processing and packing units to process 15 lakh nuts per year, 7 Ball copra making units with processing capacity of 42.10 lakh coconuts per year, one coconut oil unit for processing 15 lakh nuts per year and 2 Shell Charcoal units with a capacity to produce 4200 MT Shell Charcoal per year were sanctioned.
In Kerala, 2 Desiccated Coconut Powder unit for processing 72,500 coconuts per day, one Integrated Coconut Processing unit with a capacity to process 1000 nuts per day and 1,000 litre coconut water per day for Coconut Vinegar, Nata-de- coco and coconut chips, one coconut oil unit for processing 5,000 coconuts per day, 3 Ball Copra making units with a capacity to process 4.30 lakh coconuts per year and one shell charcoal unit to produce 19 MT Charcoal per day were sanctioned.
In Tamil Nadu, two Desiccated Coconut Powder making units with a capacity to process 37,500 nuts per day, one Tender Coconut water processing and packing unit to process 5,000 nuts day and 3 Integrated Coconut Processing units with a capacity to process 38,650 nuts per day and 500 liter Neera per day for VCO, DC & Coconut sugar and one Shell Charcoal unit to produce 4 MT Charcoal per day were sanctioned.
In Andhra Pradesh, 4 Ball Copra making units with a capacity to process 37.80 lakh coconuts per year were sanctioned.
Dr. Navin K Rastogi, Sr. Principal Scientist, CFTRI, Mysore; PK Hameed Kutty, Deputy Agricultural Marketing Advisor, Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Kochi; Usha K, DGM, NABARD, RO, Thriuvananthapuram; Vasanthakumar P, Asst. General Manager, Indian Overseas Bank, R.O, Kochi; Saradindu Das, Chief Coconut Development Officer, CDB, Kochi; E. Aravazhi, Dy. Director, CDB, Kochi; R. Jnanadevan, Deputy Director, CDB, Kochi; Sardar Singh Choyal, Deputy Director, CDB, Kochi and Sreekumar Poduval, Processing Engineer, CDB, Aluva attended the meeting.
