India ranks first in global coconut production

KOCHI : After being in the third spot for a long period, India has emerged as world’s largest coconut producer, producing 1584 crores nuts in 2006-07 said, Coconut Development Board. India pushed Indonesia and Phillipines to the second and third spots respectively to achieve this feat said, CDB Chairperson Minnie Mathew. Speaking to reporters here she said, coconut production in the country has increased from 1481 crores nuts in 2005-06 to 1584 crores nuts in 2006-07, while Indonesia's production, which was 1509 crores nuts in 2002 slipped to 1498 crores nuts in 2006-07. Coconut production in Phillipines fell from 1406 crores nuts in 2002 to 1260 crores nuts in 2006-07. Good monsoon in India helped increase production while 'tsunami effect' in coconut producing countries led to fall in production there. Productivity has also shown an upward trend from 7608 nuts per hectare in 2005-06 to 8165 nuts in 2006-07. Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka account for 90.29 per cent of the area and 91.13 per cent of the production in the country, she said. Kerala produces 6951 nuts per hectare, she said. Copra production is estimated at 7.5 lakh tonnes and coconut oil production at 4.4 lakh tonnes per annum. Coconut thus makes a contribution of approximately Rs. 8000 crores to the GDP and Rs. 650 crores to the export earnings of the country,provides direct and indirect employment to more than 10 million people and provides raw material for nearly 15,000 coir processing units, she added. -NDTV