RAIPUR: Kondagaon district in Chhattisgarh has recorded the highest production of coconuts in the non-traditional belt of the country.
Kondagaon district is among the 11 Demonstrations cum Seed Production (DSP) farms owned and run by the Centre under the ministry of Agriculture.
Usually the southern states excel in coconut production and collectively contribute a significant majority of the yields in the country.
Spread across 100 acres of land, the farm has over 6000 coconut trees with 18 varieties, among them the tall, dwarf and hybrid ones are most common. Over 3 lakh coconuts are produced annually from Kondagaon DSP farm.
“Among the 11 DSP farms administered by the Coconut Development Board (CDB) under the ministry of agriculture, the Kopabeda-based in Kondagaon has secured first position in terms of coconut production. The annual income of the Board from this farm is over one crore. Here we also produce around 50 thousand seedlings of coconut every year for sale to farmers and in other adjoining states,” I C Katiyar, assistant director (CDB) told TNIE.
The quality of cultivation led to phenomenal success, the officer added.
Besides the assistant director, there are around 10 staff and the same number of permanent labourers working here.
The project started in Kondagaon in 1987 and the headquarters is in Kerala. The other DSP farms are in states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Tripura, West Bengal.
To make the best use of the land, the inter-cropping practices are also undertaken and one will find other trees among the coconut trees like mango, litchi, pine apple, cocoa, chiku, cinnamon among others.
On some occasions, the DSP farm also engages actively in seedling distributions and training sessions on coconut cultivation practices on demand.