June 21, 2007
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUN 20: Hefty loan factor in the Centre’s Rs 1924-crore coconut replanting scheme is putting off farmers. During the Eleventh Plan, replanting of four lakh hectare of coconut trees is targeted through a Rs 3000-crore plantation package.
As much as Rs 1600 crore of the Centre’s Rs 1924-crore coconut replanting package is loan. Only the rest is Central assistance.
In Kerala, which holds 46% share in country’s area under coconut (Andhra Pradesh: 104 hectare, Tamil Nadu: 357 hectare, Karnataka: 385.4 hectare, Kerala: 897.8 hectare), a good many of the trees are ageing and needs replantation, but the coconut farmers refuse to warm up to the Centre’s replantation scheme.
A farmer with 100 coconut trees will incur Rs 30,000 debt if he taps the Centre scheme, according to Kerala agriculture minister Mulakkara Ratnakaran.
‘What the debt-stressed farmer asks the policymaker is whether the coconut scheme will push further down the debt precipice and one has no answer,” Ratnakaran told the state Assembly, here.
Coconut Development Board has been repeatedly pointing out that besides diversification and value-addition, bringing down cost of production is vital to making Indian coconut globally competitive.
Source : http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=167744
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