Global Watch

ANDAMAN Farmers Celebrate World Coconut Day

FARMERS of Andaman & Nicobar Islands enthusiastically participated in the World Coconut Day. The World Coconut Day is celebrated every year around the world on 02nd September. The Department of Agriculture of Andaman Nicobar Organized an awareness programme about the significance  of growing  coconut  on 18 h September at Port Blair’s Community Hall, Shibpur, involving coconut growers. This year the theme of the World Coconut Day was “Coconut for Health, Wealth & Wellness”.  Dilip Biswas, Up-Pradhan was the chief guest on the occasion. At the outset of the programme , Dilip Kumar, Assistant Director(Agriculture ), Diglipur , explained in detail about the Health benefits of coconut. The Agriculture Assistants elaborated in detail about Productivity improvement, Crop management aspects, Intercropping, Processing & Marketing of Coconut. They elaborated on the schemes of Coconut Development Board and the Prime Minister’s flagship programmes for the development of farming community.Speaking on the occasion, Dilip Biswas and  Parimal Halder, Sarpanch, Shibpur encouraged the coconut growers to avail the schemes of GOI and adopt the practices in coconut garden for productivity improvement. The participating farmers interacted with the field officials and highlighted their problems in coconut cultivation and marketing. The Assistant Director (Agri.) clarified their doubts and apprised of better management practices of coconut palms.Altogether 30 farmers attended the programme and ended with thankful remarks by the Department of Agriculture. The World Coconut Day is celebrated to commemorate the formation day of Asian Pacific Coconut Community (APCC).  In India, World Coconut Day is celebrated every year under the aegis of Coconut Development Board in various coconut growing states across the country.  This year, around 500 farmers from all coconut growing states took in the function. An exhibition showcasing various innovative value added products of coconut and latest technologies in coconut sector was held as part of the programme. In India, coconut is cultivated mainly in the coastal tracts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Pondicherry, and Maharashtra and in the islands of Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar. Among the 10 States/UTs producing coconut are Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat, Assam, Maharashtra and Bihar in 2014-15. The coconut production in Tamil Nadu was 6917.46 million nuts in 2014-15 as on March 2017.

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