5 months ago
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Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has written to Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan, seeking the Centre’s enactment for launching an Integrated Coconut Development Programme to fortify the coconut assemblage and heighten husbandman incomes.
In his missive dated December 16, helium noted that Andhra Pradesh is 1 of the starring coconut-producing States successful India, lasting 4th successful cultivation with 1.08 lakh hectares, 1,735 cardinal nuts successful accumulation and the highest productivity successful the state astatine 16,000 nuts per hectare.
Requesting ₹200 crore successful Central assistance for the State’s Integrated Coconut Development and Market Strengthening Programme, helium noted that coconut farming is simply a important root of income for lakhs of tiny and marginal farmers, particularly successful coastal and semi-coastal regions. The programme would straight payment coconut farmers by expanding farm-gate prices from ₹11 to ₹15 per seed to ₹35 to ₹40, reducing clime and pest-related losses by 20% to 25%, creating 15,000 agrarian jobs and positioning Andhra Pradesh arsenic a starring nationalist hub for tender coconut and value-added coconut products, helium said.
Highlighting the request for worth addition, the Chief Minister advocated the constitution of coconut-based processing units specified arsenic virgin coconut oil, desiccated coconut, coconut sugar, coir products, fibre-based units and activated c facilities. Cluster-level processing infrastructure, helium said, would make important agrarian employment portion ensuring amended terms realisation for farmers.
The connection besides calls for robust selling and terms enactment mechanisms, including improved procurement systems, marketplace intelligence, branding and promotion of coconut products successful home and planetary markets. It underscores the relation of Farmer Producer Organisations successful aggregating nutrient and enhancing farmers’ bargaining power.
Mr. Naidu further sought fiscal assistance and subsidies for plantation development, drip irrigation, mechanisation, intercropping and post-harvest infrastructure, portion stressing climate-resilient practices to mitigate risks from droughts and cyclones. “The Union authorities is requested to see a national-level inaugural to thrust sustainable maturation successful the coconut sector,” helium said.
