Rs 631.63 cr sought for revival of coconut farming

BHUBANESWAR:  With livelihoods of thousands of coconut growers in six coastal districts taking a hit due to cyclone Fani, the State Government will seek financial assistance from the Centre to assist farmers for revival of coconut farming and coconut-based industry.Estimating the loss at about `500 crore, the Directorate of Horticulture has submitted a proposal to the State Government for sanction of `631.63 crore to compensate the affected farmers for undertaking fresh plantation of coconut trees. As per preliminary estimates, around 9.70 lakh trees in 7,930 hectare (ha) of coconut gardens have suffered extreme damage due the cyclone which hit Puri coast on May 3. 

While coconut is cultivated in 50,910 ha, the fruit bearing area is 42,824 ha with a production of 3,428 lakh nuts per year with a productivity of 7,000 healthy nuts per ha. “The present farm gate price is `15 per nut. The average loss of a farmer, who cultivated one ha of coconut, will be `1 lakh per year. The State has suffered a production loss of about 555 lakh nuts per year. Accordingly, the estimated income loss of farmers will be `83.26 crore,” said Horticulture Director B K Upadhyaya.

Since coconut is cultivated vastly by small and marginal farmers and their livelihood has been greatly affected, their confidence needs to be rebuilt. The coconut-based industry would not survive without uninterrupted supply of raw materials, Upadhyaya said in his proposal to the State Government.  Maximum damage to coconut trees have occurred in Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsingpur, Jajpur and Kendrapara districts. It has been reported that over 13.87 lakh trees have been either uprooted or their crowns damaged in these districts.

For replanting of about 10 lakh trees over an area of 5,544 ha (where the trees are fully damaged), around `100 crore will be required, the average cost for replantation being `1,000 per tree.“Even if the coconut gardens are revived, it will take 4-5 years to see the economic yield from the garden,” Upadhyaya said.

Estimating the unit cost per ha (covering 175 trees) at `2.8 lakh, the Directorate has sought an assistance of `182.43 crore for rejuvenation of coconut farms.The proposal of the Horticulture Directorate will be submitted to the Coconut Development Board for grant of financial assistance to the affected farmers.