International Coconut Summit in Kochi on May 7

Kochi, May 6 (UNI) The second International Coconut Summit, to be inaugurated by Kerala Governor R L Bhatia here tomorrow, will focus on production and processing technologies in the coconut and coir sector.

International Coconut Summit Organising Committee Chairman K I Vasu said India, despite being a major coconut producer, was lagging behind even minor coconut producing countries in applying viable technologies for value-addition and introducing and marketing new coconut products.

Experts from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Jamaica and Ivory Coast, which had come up with new technologies, would participate in a business meet to be held on May 10 as part of the summit, he said.

Local entrepreneurs, interested in these emerging technologies, could strike technology transfer agreements during the business meet, he said.

Besides Mr Bhatia, the inaugural function would be attended by Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac, Orissa Agriculture Minister Surendra Naik, Coir Board Chairman A C Jose and Coconut Development Board Chairperson Minnie Mathew.

The five-day summit would be organised by the Swadeshi Nalikera Mission in association with Peekay Tree Crops Development Foundation.

Though coconut production in India was not very bright, there was a marginal increase in the area devoted to the crop, Mr Vasu said, adding since 2,000, the production had gone down.

While the area under cultivation had gone up to 1,933 hectares in 2004 from 1,840 hectares in 2000, the production stood at 12,459 million nuts compared to 12,597 nuts earlier, he informed.

Besides a techno-expo and trade fair, the summit would also have seminars focusing on topics like market potential for certified organic products, opportunities and threats for global coconut industry, technology innovations in coconut and coir for value-addition and coir-based products in environment-friendly applications.

UNI