KAKINADA: Coconuts from Srikakulam district are set to capture not only the domestic market, but the global one as well, their quality, quantity and size being far superior to those from other areas. Srikakulam, which is a quiet contender in the coconut stakes with Indonesia and the Andamans in the Bay of Bengal, is now emerging as one of the best coconut producers in the country.
Chicacole Coconut Farmers and Producers Companies Limited (Chicof) has been getting bulk orders from China, France, Nepal and the Arab Emirates. In India, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and others gave an order for raw coconut to the company. Besides, a Pune-based company is tying up with Chicof to get 'dry coconut leaves' while companies in the US are making enquiries about importing coconut milk as a substitute for breast milk.
Godavari East and West districts are known for coconut cultivation, in particular, the Konaseema area of East Godavari, which has earned the name, ‘Mini-Kerala’ for its rich endowments. However, Srikakulam in the north coastal districts has made rapid strides in coconut cultivation over the past several years.
“The world is looking to Srikakulam district for coconuts. Nearly 200 kinds of value-added products can be made from it, with farmers able to earn Rs 100 per coconut, taking the value added products into account,” according to Johar Khan, National Coconut Board member and chairman of Chicof.
He said that the company had been floated by coconut farmers through a three-tier system of societies, federations and companies, a system introduced by the Union government to give a boost to coconut farmers.
Each farmer should give ‘One coconut’ per harvest of each coconut tree. According to the market rate, the farmer can be given share and dividends as per supply of coconuts by the farmer.
According to the three-tier system, farmers could form a society, consisting of 10 to 15 members, with 5,000 coconut trees between them. Twenty such societies formed one federation with a sum of 1 lakh coconuts. Ten to 15 federations formed a company with 10 lakh coconuts.
“Now our company has been floated with 4,996 members, 112 societies and 10 federations. The number will increase to 30 lakh coconut trees and 20,000 members in future,” said Mr Johar Khan.
Coconut prices crash in Godavari districts
If the Srisailam coconut is winning favour in foreign shores, quite conversely, prices in Konaseema, the region in East Godavari that's famous for it, and West Godavari too have fallen drastically from Rs 10 per coconut to Rs 3.50 and Rs 4.
‘Mini-Kerala’, the coconut bowl of Andhra, needs help in marketing its produce with greater savvy. The East Godavari administration, for its part, has introduced a ‘market intervention scheme’ to save coconut farmers.
“The Marketing Department is purchasing coconuts at a cost of Rs 6 and Rs 7 according to size from farmers which it will supply to the Rythu Bazaars. Nearly 1.25 lakh coconuts have been purchased under the scheme,” said assistant director of marketing K.V.R.N. Kishore, who has told the farmers not to undersell their produce at the low prices.
Kakinada MP and National Coconut Board member Thota Narasimham said that efforts were being made to purchase coconuts from farmers through the National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) which would set up coconut purchasing centres from May.
The coconut farmers, however, are not happy over NAFED's prices. “NAFED has fixed Rs 5,950 per quintal of ‘coconut pulp’. But the farmers have to bear the burden of another Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 to process the pulp,” said Mutyala Srirama Nagendra Prasad (Jameel), secretary, Balaram Coconut Farmers and Producers Federation and also state general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. He said the farmers were demanding that NAFED purchase the pulp at Rs10,000 per quintal.
