Coconut farming is growing by leaps and bounds around the tropical world. The production of coconuts is reducing year by year as the age and senility of the world’s population of palms is increasing and their replacement with new planting of palms is very inadequate. Furthermore, the growing demand for coconut and coconut products around the world is growing fast and substantially. China imports 3 billion nuts annually, while Thailand, a major coconut producing country imports about a billion.
India is the highest producer of coconuts in the world, mostly used for home consumption and the extraction of coconut oil. Processing of other products, growing like wildfire around the world, is in its infancy in India. India’s largest Coconut processing plant, just commissioned in 2017 processes approx 60,000 nuts per day, compared to a million being processed in Sri Lanka in their largest plant. And the price of coconuts keeps growing and is highest now in history. With high prices and a shortage of nuts, there will not be value addition worth speaking of in India.
Can India be the coconut capital of the world?
Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) and all coconut products presently are or will become, the rage. The economics of producing them are really good, and these value added products are great as food and nutraceuticals. The new high yielding coconut palm can replace the sugar industry, the dairy industry and is at the same time the best promoter for good health and wellness. The tax-free profit from coconut farming is possibly the very best. The opportunities are huge. However, India is missing the bus where value-added products are concerned, trailing behind most countries and far behind Sri Lanka.
India has all the attributes to be the coconut capital of the world! The climate is ideal in many states, the world’s best planting materials are locally available, cost of production of coconut and value-added products is less than a third of any in any other country, and the opportunity is now.
Yes, with a little determination India can become the Coconut Capital of the World!!!
