Coconut Development Board Research Articles

A Study on the Problems Faced by the Farmers in Cultivating and Marketing of Coconut with Special Reference to Tirupur and Coimbatore Districts District

The Tirupur and Coimbatore Districts district is one of the districts which cultivate amount of coconut in Tamilnadu. The farmers who cultivate the coconut in the district have to sell the produces either directly in the market or to the merchant in the locality. Some of the farmers have their own industry where the coconut dried in the field and after that it is sold for coconut oil manufacturers. Few of the farmers have their own industry for making coconut oil. But most of the farmers sell their coconut the merchant in the local area or sell directly in the neibouring market. The coconut Development board helps to the farmers in cultivating and marketing of coconut. The employees and workers of Coconut Development Board visit the coconut farm and give guidance to control the diseases in the coconut. Further the farmers face number of problems in cultivating and marketing of coconut in the study area. It is reported that the farmers could not able to get adequate price for the coconut in many occasions. It makes the farmers economically weak which leads to increase in the borrowings of the farmers year by year. Many farmers of coconut in the study area face similar issues in marketing the coconut cultivated. Nobody takes care of the framers problem in marketing the coconut in the study area. Hence to know the problems faced by the farmers in the study area a thorough study is to undertaken

Growth and Instability Analysis of Coconut in Kerala and India

The present study was carried out to analyze the growth trends and to observe magnitude of variations in area, production and productivity of coconut in India, Kerala and two major coconut growing districts (Kozhikode and Malappuram) of Kerala. This study is based on secondary data on area, production and productivity of coconut in India, Kerala and two districts of Kerala state collected from the website of Coconut Development Board (CDB) for a period of 20 years, i.e., from 2000-01 to 2019-20. The study used averages, coefficient of variation, instability index and compound annual growth rate for the analysis of the data. The growth trend was estimated using Compound Annual Growth Rate while the instability was measured using Cuddy Della Valle Instability index with the aid of coefficient of variation. The entire study period was further divided into two sub-periods: Period I (2000-01 to 2009-10) and Period II (2010-11 to 2019-20). The results of the growth rate analysis indicated that the highest growth rate was observed in production (3.85 %) followed by productivity (3.07 %) and area (0.75 %) at one per cent level of significance in the overall period in India. Whereas in Kerala, the area (-1.05 %) and production (-0.49 %) registered negative growth in the overall study period, but the productivity (0.57 %) showed a positive growth rate which was significant at five per cent level of probability. The results of the instability index reveal that the production of coconut in India experienced a highest variation of 10.59 per cent, followed by productivity (9.89 %) and area (3.36 %). Similarly, in Kerala, the instability index was found to be highest in production (11.12 %) followed by productivity (7.57 %) and area (5.71 %).

Performance assessment of elite coconut genotypes and hybrids for economic andquality traits and oil yield

Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) is an important plantation crop of the tropics cultivated in more than 80 countries across the globe. Coconut is a monotypic species with two different botanical forms namely tall and dwarf types. India owns a leading position in the world in coconut production and productivity. Coconut is cultivated in an area of 2082.11 thousand ha in more than 16 states of the country producing 23904.10 million nuts with an average productivity of 11481 nuts/ha. The four southern states of India, accounting for more than 92 per cent of the total coconut production in the country include Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (Coconut Development Board, 2018). The major source of coconut production comes from the tall coconut varieties, while dwarf and hybrid varieties meant especially for tender coconut cultivation contribute for about 10 per cent of the total production.

Organic management of tuberous intercrops for resilience, higher yield and profit from coconut plantations: Insights from validation experiments in Kerala, India

Fifteen on-farm experiments were conducted in tropical tuber crops intercropped in coconut gardens in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts, Kerala, during 2018-2021 for validation of organic production technologies. The validation experiments were performed under the aegis of the ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, in a project funded by the Coconut Development Board, Kochi, Kerala. Three treatments viz., T1: organic farming technology (OF), T2: POP recommendation (POP) and T3: farmer's practice (FP) were evaluated in cassava, elephant foot yam and greater yam intercropped with coconut. System productivity and profitability were worked out for the different treatments based on yield and income from coconut and tuber crops in the respective treatments. Pooled analysis indicated that the coconut yield under intercropping with tuber crops in organic mode was high by 7-13% in comparison to monocrop of coconut maintained by the farmers. Tuber yield under organic management was superior over POP by 14% and FP by 27%. On an average, the net income from coconut-tuber crop intercropping system under organic management was ₹ 2,36,133 ha-1, whereas it was ₹ 1,56,904 ha-1 in POP and ₹ 1,32,706 ha-1 in FP and significantly outperformed sole coconut (₹ 7,764 ha-1). Thus, the results indicated that organic management of coconut-tuber crop system offered resilience with higher system productivity and profitability.

Customized fertilizers for higher yield and income: Evidences from on-farm validation in coconut – tuber crop intercropping system

Fifteen on-farm experiments were conducted in tropical tuber crops intercropped in coconut gardens in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts, Kerala, during 2018-2021 for the validation of customized fertilizers formulated from on-station developed Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM) practices. The validation experiments were done under the aegis of ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, in a project funded by Coconut Development Board, Kochi, Kerala.Three treatments viz., T1: SSNM technology using customized fertilizers (CF) (SSNM), T2: present POP recommendation (POP) and T3: farmer's practice (FP) was evaluated in cassava, elephant foot yam and greater yam intercropped with coconut. System productivity and profitability were worked out for the different treatments based on yield and income from coconut and tuber crops in the respective treatments. Pooled analysis indicated that the coconut yield under intercropping with tuber crops under SSNM using CF was higher by 12-23% in comparison to coconut monocrop maintained unscientifically by the farmers. Tuber yield under CF proved superior over POP by 9.3% and FP by 37.4%. On an average, the net income from coconut-tuber crop intercropping system under SSNM using CF was ₹ 270396 per ha, whereas it was ₹ 198047 in POP and ₹146358 in FP and significantly outperformed sole coconut (₹ 7764).Thus, the results of the validation experiments indicated that the use of customized fertilizers in tuberous intercrops offered resilience with higher system productivity and profitability from coconut gardens.

EFFECT OF FoCT TRAINING ON ADOPTION OF COCONUT TREE CLIMBING DEVICE FOR HARVESTING COCONUTS

Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) is an important and versatile tree crop with diverse uses, supporting the livelihood of many farm families in the primary sector, grown in many states of India. Coconuts are known for their great versatility as evidenced by many traditional uses ranging from food to cosmetics. Assamese people prepare different types of edible items from coconut fruit in many festivals. Now, the majority of the coconut growers in Assam were facing the problems of shortage of skilled labour for nut harvesting. The traditional method of harvesting the nuts is quite risky and accident-prone. To overcome this problem, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Barpeta, Assam conducted training for unemployed rural youths in collaboration with Coconut Development Board, Guwahati. The objectives of the FoCT training were to impart training to a group of unemployed youths in developing their technical skills for harvesting of coconuts, to mitigate the problem of non-availability of coconut tree climbers for coconut harvesting. The present study was conducted at KVK, Barpeta (Assam) with an attempt to know the effect of friends of coconut tree (FoCT) training on the adoption of coconut tree climbing devices. For the present study, 40 trainees were selected purposively. The majority 45% of the trainees use the coconut climbing device only for plucking of their own coconut tree followed by 35% who use the coconut climbing device as a source of income generation and 20% of trainees do not at all use the device. Among the two methods of climbing, the advanced method of coconut tree climber takes less time (3-5 minutes) to climb than the traditional method (7-10 minutes). On the other hand, among the two methods of climbing, the advanced method of coconut tree climber harvested a greater number of nuts and many numbers of harvesting trees over the traditional method.

Coconut area mapping and change detection analysis of coconut growing areas of Coimbatore and Tirupur istricts of Tamil Nadu, India

Coconut, an important perennial tree largely grown in Tamil Nadu to the extent of 4.61 lakh hectares. Inthis study, attempt has been made to create a spatial data base on spatial changes of coconut acreage inCoimbatore and Tiruppur districts of Tamil Nadu. The methodology involves digital classification of satelliteimage and identifying coconut plantations and creation of spatial database of coconut area in Coimbatoreand Tiruppur districts for the period 2019 and compare the same with 2013 data. Total area of coconutunder Coimbatore and Tiruppur was found to be 80,065 and 58,357 ha respectively. A comparison betweenarea obtained from this study and the area statistics released by Coconut Development Board data wasdone using paired t-test and the p-value was 0.005, which showed that there was no significant differencebetween the two data and the RMSE value was also found to be low, which indicated that this methodologycan be adopted for mapping the coconut area. Change detection analysis showed that the area decreased in Coimbatore to the tune of 5.4 per cent, whereas there was not much change in Tiruppur district and reduction in area was only 0.2 per cent. The accuracy was worked out by comparing the assessment based on the Remote sensing data and the government estimates which showed a difference of 9.54 per cent indicating the accuracy of 90.46 per cent.

Impact of Trade Liberalisation Policies on the Coconut Export from India

The present study analysed the impact of trade policies on coconut economy of Kerala based on the secondary data from Coconut Development Board (CDB) and Export-Import data bank of Government of India. Exponential growth function, Cuddy- Della instability index and Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) were used to compute the growth rates, instability indices and comparative advantage, respectively. Though trade liberalization adversely affected the coconut farmers during the initial phase of liberalization, it subsequently increased the opportunities of the Indian coconut sector to compete in the world market. Compared to Period I (1980-81 to 1993-94), a significant improvement in the coconut export was observed during Period II (1994-95 to 2007-08) and Period III (2008-09 to 2016-17). The high growth rates of coconut products together with low instability indices in the export revealed the prospects for Indian coconut sector in the global market during the post liberalization period. The value of RSCA revealed that India lacked any comparative advantage of coconut export in Period I. While in Period II, the export of coconut and copra possessed a comparative advantage from 2002 and 2005, respectively, and maintained the comparative advantage throughout the Period III. The result indicated that India must give much effort to increase the export share of coconut, copra and other value-added coconut products to augment the foreign earnings.

Determination of the Quality of Coconut Oils (Unrefined Grade) and (Refined Grade) Produced from Three Survey Regions of East Godavari District, India

Aim: The study sought to assess the quality of coconut oil extracted from fresh copra milk by Traditional fermentation(FWCE) and from dry copra balls by continuous processing using expellers(TDCE,DMCE) method with respect to moisture content (MC), free fatty acid (FFA) content, Acid value (AV) and Saponification value in comparison with Food safety and standards authority of India.
 Methodology: Three samples of coconut oil were taken from major processing centers in east Godavari district (AMP, SML, KRG) for quality determination. Similarly three samples of coconut oil were prepared from fresh grated coconut milk in the Medicinal chemistry laboratory at Korangi College of pharmacy and three samples were prepared from dry coconut cups. Replicate titer values of each of the nine (09) oil samples obtained were compared with brand double refined oil and the averages were taken into consideration. The AOAC and AOCS methods were used in the analyses and the results compared with Standards provided by Food safety and standards authority of India, Coconut Development Board, Kochi.
 Results: The results showed that 50% of the total fermented oil sample had high moisture content than standard and expected to undergo oxidative rancidity. According to the standards, 100% of the oil samples had free fatty acids and acid value within acceptable range indicating no signs of rancidity.
 Conclusion: There was a significant difference in saponification value, free fatty acid profile and moisture content of Traditional fermented (FWCE) and dry copra balls by continuous processing expellers (TDCE, DMCE) method. The ANOVA (P<0.05) showed that there were significant differences in the MC, FFA, AV of oils produced among the processing centers and that produced in laboratory. The processes involved in all the extraction centers vary and might have accounted for that. The results indicate that the coconut oils produced in both the cases meet the standards however new technologies in processing should be adopted to improve the quality to meet the standards.

Problems and prospects of coconut producer organizations in Kerala-An exploratory study

The State of Kerala is entirely different from other States in India. The unique ‘Kerala Model of Development’, resulted in the highest ‘Human Development Index'in the country. Kerala has the largest area under coconut cultivation in the country but in terms of production, it comes third. Hence the Government of Kerala has been encouraging entrepreneurial ventures, for the production of value added products like desiccated coconut, beverages, shell based products, coconut cream, Neera etc. Under these circumstances, the Coconut Development Board also promotes coconut producers'organizations to support the coconut farmers in Kerala. However, they face many problems and need strong intervention to streamline the functioning of the system. This is an attempt to highlight the problems, faced by the Coconut Producer Companies (CPCs) in Kerala and to examine its prospects. It is an ongoing, funded project and six CPCs were considered for the study. Though the selected CPCs were engaged in production, processing and marketing of coconut products, they have not realised the full potential still. Many federations and societies are non-functional. They mobilized equity share capital and borrowed money to investin plant and machineries. Butthey did not follow best practicesas faras fund management was concerned. Many CPCs are in the debt trap and need bailout strategy by the State and Union Governments. The Government should train the management committee and other executives, particularly on financial management. If the CPCs are directed to move in the right direction, coconut farmers can double their farm income.

Utility pattern of coconut climbing equipment by rural youth of Mandya district Karnataka, India

Premise of research: Timely non-availability of skilled labours for harvesting nuts coupled with fluctuating market prices are the major challenges in coconut cultivation. The scarcity of labour disrupted the harvesting cycle causing loss of income to the growers. The traditional method of climbing coconut tree involved more physical drudgery, risk to the life, time consuming and less effective in harvesting nuts. Hence, a new friends of coconut tree (FOCT) was introduced and has relatively more advantageous over to that of traditional one. Realising this Coconut Development Board (CDB) had organised training programme to impart skills of using FOCT for the rural youths in association with KVKs and National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), GoK. Methodology: The survey was conducted in Mandya district, 70 youth were selected randomly as respondents covering all the 7 talukas. Research design adopted was Ex-post facto evaluation type. Structured interview schedule was developed, pre-tested in non-sample area. Data were collected by personal interview method and analysed using statistical tests to draw the inference. Pivotal results: The findings revealed that majority of the respondents (75.72%) had used the FOCT for self (Personal use) only and all the respondents (100%) used it during Kharif season, followed by ¾ of them (78.57%) used during Rabi 2/3 rd of them (67.13%) used during summer seasons. Further, majority of the respondents (62.85%) did not use the coconut palm climbing equipment for harvesting of tender nuts during Kharif season and had used it for harvesting of matured nuts for a period of 1 to 5 days during Rabi season. Followed by nearly 3/4 th of them (72.86%) did not use the equipment for crown cleaning purpose during Kharif as it was not a regular routine activity and used it whenever tree was infested. To conclude that majority of the respondents used the FOCT for self in their gardens and also to some extent for income earning. The findings with respect to association between utility pattern of equipment and social variables, the family size, land holding and educational level found have no significant association with utility pattern of coconut climbing equipment. The socio-economic profile of the respondents was, majority of them had nucleus type of family, had owned marginal land, were professing dairy as a subsidiary occupation for their livelihood and acquired collegiate level of schooling. Conclusion : The skill training on coconut climbing equipment usage for harvesting coconuts to generate self employment was organised by Krishi Vigyan Kendra in association with Coconut Board during 2015. The youth entrepreneurs acquired skills by using the equipment to harvest the coconuts and cleaning of crown of coconut tree . Majority of them had used the equipment for self and a few of them used for generating self employment by going outside their gardens. The extent of utility varied from season to season. The utility pattern equipment was not significantly associated with the social factors such as family size, land holding and education level. There might be other factors influencing on the utility pattern of the equipment.

Mapping of coconut growing areas in Tamil Nadu, India using remote sensing and GIS

Importance of remotely sensed data for inventorying, mapping, monitoring and for the management and development planning for the optimum utilization of natural resources has been well established. Though, a lot of applications have been attempted using remote sensing tool, mapping of coconut growing areas has not been attempted at a regional level. Hence, this study was envisaged to map the coconut growing areas in Tamil Nadu, India using Survey of India Toposheet grid (1:50,000 scale) and Digital Globe data. The temporal window of these datasets ranged from March 2012 to June 2014. The data sets have a spatial resolution of 41 cm. It has been observed that Coimbatore has largest area under coconut among all districts of Tamil Nadu, followed by Tiruppur, Thanjavur and Dindigul. In terms of percentage of coconut area to the total geographical area of the district, Tiruppur, leads the list, followed by Kanyakumari, Coimbatore and Thanjavur. On comparing the area obtained by this study with the area as per Coconut Development Board using a paired t-test, a p-value of 0.005 was obtained and hence, there is no significant difference between the two. Hence, it can be said that geospatial technologies like remote sensing and geographical information system are the best tools for accurate assessment and spatial data creation for crop mapping and area assessment.

Analyzing the trade competitiveness of Indian coconut sector in the liberalization regime

<p>Coconut export sector in India of late gained an outward orientation, especially since the Coconut Development Board was elevated to the status of export promotion council in the year 2009. In the recent period, the growth rate experienced in the coconut based value added products has been stupendous. Since there is an attempt for global value chain up-gradation at the production node of the sector, it is imperative to analyse our strengths in the world market in comparison with the major competitors. We have used the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) methodology to analyse India’s competitiveness in the exports of major coconut value added products traded across the world. The study revealed that, as far as the coconut value added products are concerned, India is comparatively a very small player with paltry export market shares. The analysis of RCA revealed that comparative advantage of India is lower than the major coconut exporting countries like Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The Philippines is the dominant player with highest RCA indices in most of the coconut value added product lines. The study suggests the need to formulate plausible strategies to reach the overseas market and capture the optimal share in market segments. Though we have a strong domestic market base, it is an indubitable fact that in the near future due to the evolving trade agreements even in the domestic sector we may confront fierce price competition from the overseas imports. Hence we need to chalk out modalities and execution plans to elevate our export competitiveness and comparative advantage.</p>

Yield estimation of coconut in Tumkur district of Karnataka

<p>Coconut in India is cultivated mainly in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh which account for more than 90 per cent of area and production of coconut in the country. With about 10 million people dependent on coconut farming and its allied activities, it contributes to more than 83,000 million rupees to the country’s GDP and about 6 per cent to the edible oil pool. However, there are no precise estimates of its production and productivity. The official statistics on area and production of coconut is being published with two years lag by the Department of Economic and Statistics and hence an assessment of surplus/ deficit production and its repercussion in the coconut market economy could not be made many times. Absence of such statistics at the right time for timely dissemination to stakeholders is considered as an impediment for the development and growth of the industry. Coconut Development Board initiated statistical survey for estimation of production of coconut across major coconut growing states in India by undertaking field surveys and yield estimates based on established phenotypic characters of the buttons/ nuts. The estimation was carried out in Tumkur district of Karnataka also which has the highest area under coconut. A total of 406 farms were surveyed in four taluks of the district covering 4060 bearing palms for productivity estimation. The average number of nuts per palm across all age groups for the district as a whole was 98 nuts. The average productivity for Karnataka which was much below to all India average before 2010-11 saw sudden surge post 2011-12. Questions arise as to what are the underlying factors for such sudden spikes. Across many, data capture, estimation and reporting are critical which go on to determine the decision making process on development and growth of the sector. Decisions are formulated on fixation of prices, trade, planning and execution of welfare schemes and policy making. Hence, scientific estimation initiated by Coconut Development Board on production and productivity augurs well for the sector.</p>

Group approach for enhancing profitability of small holders through technology integration-reflections from coconut farming

<p>Technology integration for enhancing productivity and income from coconut farming, facilitated through stakeholder participation, was a major objective of the NAIP sub-project on ‘Value chain in coconut’ implemented in a consortium mode with ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod as the lead institute. To achieve this objective, 10 clusters of coconut farmers were formed under the project in selected panchayats of Kasaragod district in Kerala state. A total of 534 farmers covering 250 ha participated in the project interventions. Appropriate production technologies were integrated in their holdings which included intercropping, growing of leguminous crops in the coconut basin, organic recycling through vermicomposting and integrated nutrient management. Group action was initiated among the farmers for taking up need-based integrated disease management measures especially to control bud rot disease of coconut. Knowledge and skill upgradation of farmers on the selected technologies were achieved through various institutional and off campus training programmes. The net income from the coconut farming in small and marginal holdings could be increased through the interventions under the project. Technology integration in the holdings also resulted in the increase of coconut productivity from 60 to 112 nuts per palm. Technology integration in small and marginal coconut holdings for higher productivity and income through Community Based Organizations approach is scaled up by other agencies like Coconut Development Board for implementing development/extension programmes.</p>

A Coconut Health Drink for the Revival of Coconut Farming Industry

In India, coconut is cultivated by 10 million families with an annual production of 21.89 million nuts (2012-13). Coconut contributes Rs.10,000 crores annually to GDP. 90% of coconut production is from Kerala, TamilNadu, Karnataka and Andhra. In Kerala the coconut palm population is 1,800 lakhs (approx). Kerala produces 3,974,000 metric ton coconuts as per 2011-12 statistics. 30% is used for culinary purpose, 60% for oil and the remaining for ball copra. Though the figures give a positive picture of the coconut palm cultivation, the high cost of cultivation and the low price that the primary produce fetches leads to a decline in popularity of this sector. Coconut plantations were neglected for years while the over dependency on copra-coconut oil affected the profitability of farmers resulting in declaring this as a non-profitable enterprise. Coconut Development Board, realizing this decline lately, got alert in revitalizing this sector. It strongly advocated delinking copra-coconut oil dependency and focusing on more value added products, its commercialization and marketing for regaining and sustaining the lost glory of coconut palm cultivation. is the latest addition to this array of value added products which is a sweet, oyster- white colored sap tapped from the spathe of coconut palm. It is a delicious health drink, a rich source of sugars, minerals and vitamins with low Glycemic Index(GI 35). Neera is an unfermented drink and does not contain alcohol. Neera is also the raw material for many value added products like palm syrup, palm jiggery and palm sugar having high domestic and international demand for their high nutritional value and low Glycemic Index. Until February 2014, The Abkari Act of Kerala (Act 10 of 1967) contains definitions which wrongly included the zero alcohol Neera into Toddy and thus as Liquor which got corrected through 'Sweet toddy Neera rules 2014', lifting the challenge for entry by farmers into Neera extraction and processing. When only 10% of coconut palms in Kerala is subject to tapping Neera, the economic impact is phenomenal- Rs. 54,000 crores being contributed to GSDP, generation of 10 lakhs of rural employment, income of farmers around Rs. 27,000 crores and the tax income to the State around Rs. 4,050 crores. State government taking initiative and farmers willing to step forward does not clear the challenges ahead in branding, marketing, positioning and sustaining Neera. The competition from soft drink, health drink industry rivalry, the culture of the consumer generations and the evolving dynamics of the State administration is making the future of Neera more volatile, complex, uncertain and ambiguous.

Study of Coconut Tree Climber Use Efficiency over Traditional Methods in Chitradurga District of Karnataka

Coconut is one of the most important crops under rainfed conditions in marginal soil of Chitradurga districts. Majority of the coconut growers in the district were facing the problem of theft of fallen nuts and shortage of skilled labor for nut harvesting. The traditional method of harvesting the nuts using knife with bamboo sticks for dwarf trees and climbing the tall trees was quite risky and accident prone. To overcome this problem, ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Chitradurga conducted training programmes to unemployed rural farm youths in collaboration with Coconut Development Board, Cochin. Total 80 farm youths were trained during 2012–13. With the conventional coconut climbing, a person could harvest about 8–25 nuts/tree while climbing the tree one had experienced body pain, muscles catch and lot of life risk with meager earnings of Rs.5, 000-15, 000/-year. After using the Coconut tree climber, annual income increased to Rs.20, 000-60, 000/-year and a person could climb more than 80–100 feet tall coconut tree without any life risk and harvesting efficiency increased to tune of 20–50 nuts/tree. This was encouraged many youths from surrounding villages to approach KVK to undergo training and choose coconut harvesting as an employment generation opportunity to meet their livelihood demand. Simultaneously, farmers were also benefitted by harvesting the nuts at right time and getting quality nuts also good price in the market.

Stability analysis of tractor mounted hydraulic elevator for horticultural orchards

Konkan tractor mounted elevator is a semiautomatic harvesting mechanism recommended for harvesting mango and coconut orchards upto 12 m to 14 m tree height by Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth Dapoli, Dist:- Ratnagiri:- 415712. The mechanism is developed with financial support of Coconut Development Board, Ministry of Agriculture Government of India. The stability analysis of KONKAN Tractor Mounted Hydraulic Elevator was carried out to see the stability of elevator at various load condition and angles. The objective of undertaking this study was to increase stability of the proposed machine and avoid the overturning of the elevator bucket at maximum load and at maximum reach position. The results of stability analysis were considered while the design, development and fabrication of refined tractor mounted hydraulic elevator for coconut harvesting. The stability analysis of tractor mounted hydraulic elevator was carried out by using digital weighing bridge with capacity of 60 tonnes having connectivity of data cable attachment with computer for freely interference of data.

Nanocellulose from Diseased Coconut Wood Biomass

Cellulose is the most widespread biopolymer on earth. In biosynthesis, cellulose polymers aggregate to form substructures, microfibrils, which in turn aggregate to form cellulose fibers. By applying effective methods these fibers can be disintegrated into cellulose substructures with micro- or nano-size dimensions. This article covers some aspects related to the sources of cellulose micro- and nanofibers and the most important methods for their isolation. One of these methods, acid hydrolysis, was experimentally used to obtain cellulose nano-fibers from diseased coconut wood biomass. They were studied by Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and Scanning electrom microscope (SEM).
 The ‘Replanting and Rejuvenation of Coconut Gardens’ was the sponsored scheme of the Coconut Development Board with an objective to eliminate all disease- affected coconut palms in eight districts of Kerala state in India. The main components of the scheme included cutting and removal of all old, unproductive and disease-hit palms followed by a replanting exercise. The present work was carried out under the Board sponsored project entitled “Diversified uses of diseased coconut wood”.

Integrated Management of Major Coconut Pests Using Pheromone Lures

Red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier (Coleoptera: Curculionidae; Rhinoceros beetle Oryctes rhinoceros Linn. (Coleoptera: Scarabidae) and Black headed caterpillar Opisina arenosella Walker (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae) are the three among major insect pests of coconut in India. Grubs of Red palm weevil (RPW) enter and complete their life cycle within the stem, killing the tree, adults of Rhinoceros beetle (RB) feed on the growing point of the tree and cause yield loss and the larvae of black headed caterpillar scrape and feed on the green part of the coconut leaflets leading to burnt symptoms of the fronds, death of young trees and yield loss. Aggregation pheromones of RPW and RB are used for monitoring and mass trapping of RPW and RB to manage the pest under economic threshold level. During 2006-07 large scale field trials for RPW and RB were carried out in four different states in India by PCI under a partially funded Coconut Development Board (CDB) project using indigenously synthesized pheromone lures. It was demonstrated that the pheromone lures predominantly attracted virgin and gravid females of RPW and RB. Female sex pheromone of black headed caterpillar Opisina arenosella was also identified and developed in India by PCI, under a project partially funded by CDB; dispensers, dosage and traps were standardized under field conditions and further trials were also conducted in India. It was also established that pheromone lures can be used as a monitoring and a surveillance tool for understanding the pest status before the release parasitoids and natural enemies.