KOCHI: At the 44th meeting of the Project Approval Committee (PAC) on Technology Mission on Coconut (TMOC) held here, 13 projects with an outlay of Rs.40.79 crore and subsidy of Rs.3.45 crore were approved. Of the 13 projects, three are research projects and 10 are projects on processing and product diversification.
The projects sanctioned under the sub-category ‘Processing and Product Diversification’ are one desiccated coconut powder unit for processing 60,000 nuts per day; one virgin coconut oil unit for processing 10,000 nuts per day; two tender coconut water preservation and packaging units with a capacity to process 8,000 tender coconuts per day; three coconut shell-based activated carbon units for processing 44 MT shell per day; three copra/ball copra units with processing capacity of 61,60,000 nuts per year. In Kerala, one tender coconut water processing unit with capacity to process 3,000 tender coconuts per day, and three copra/ball copra units having capacity to process 61,60,000 nuts per year were sanctioned. In Karnataka, one coconut shell-based activated carbon unit having a capacity to process 22 MT/day was approved. In Tamil Nadu, one virgin coconut oil unit for processing 10,000 nuts per day; one desiccated coconut powder unit for processing 60,000 coconuts per day; one tender coconut water processing unit for processing 5,000 tender coconuts per day; and two coconut shell-based activated carbon units for processing 22 MT coconut shell per day were sanctioned. The meeting was presided over by Coconut Development Board (CDB) chairman T K Jose.
A G Gopalakrishna, scientist at CFTRI (CSIR), Mysore; Vinayaka Hegde, head of Crop Protection at CPCRI, Kasaragod; Usha K, AGM at Nabard Regional Office, Thriuvananthapuram; M M Jose, senior marketing development officer, DMI, Kochi; Sugata Ghose, chief coconut development officer, CDB, Kochi; A K Nandi, secretary, CDB, Kochi; and Hemachandra, deputy Director, CDB, attended the meeting.