A STUDY ON CULTIVATION AND MARKETING PROBLEMS OF COCONUT GROWERS IN THALI PANCHAYAT, UDUMALPET

MARKETING

International Conference on Research avenues in Social Science

Agriculture has been playing a predominant role in the economic development of all developed and developing countries. The green revolution of the 1960’s ushered in rapid increases in food crop production such as wheat, rice and other cereals. Efforts were also taken to achieve similar increases in non-food crop production viz., coconut, groundnut, sugarcane, cotton etc. In recent years a large number of national programs for coconut development have been launched in many Asian and Pacific countries, particularly in India because coconut occupies a unique position in commercial agriculture as a fiber, food, oilseed and beverage crop. Coconut plays a significant role in the agrarian economy of India. Apart from the importance of copra and coconut oil which is widely used in the manufacture of soaps, hair oil, cosmetics and other industrial products, its husk is a source of fiber which supports a sizable coir industry. The tender nut supplies coconut water, a popular thirst quencher of health and hygienic value. Virgin coconut oil (VCO), extracted from fresh coconut kernel without any chemical processes is abundant in vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants, thus making it the ‘mother’ of all oils. Coconut is grown in more than 93 countries of the world and Indonesia, Philippines, India are the major producing countries of the world. Coconut is grown in more than 18.95 lakh ha in the country with an estimated 16943 million nuts during 2014-2015 with an average productivity of 8937 nuts per ha. Traditional areas of coconut in India are the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Goa, West Bengal, Pondicherry, Maharashtra and Islands of Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar. The high oil content of the endosperm of the coconut is widely used in both food and nonfood industries like margarine and soaps. The coconut palm and its products are a major source of livelihood to a sizeable section of rural folk in the tropics and also contribute substantially to the total export earnings. It is unique among horticulture of India because of the diverse uses of coconut products. Therefore, coconut production, productivity and marketing have become an integral part of economic development of a country. In this paper an attempt is being made to study the cultivation and marketing problems of coconut growers in Thali panchayat, Udumalpet.

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