Kera Park planned in Thrissur

Kochi: The Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA), in association with the Coconut Development Board (CDB), will set up a ‘Kera Park’ to provide a common platform for farmers, processors and retailers.

It will link agricultural production to the market so as to maximise value addition, minimise wastage and improve farmers’ income.

The project, to be set up at Kodakara in Thrissur district, envisages organisation of farmers into various clusters. The clusters will form a Special Purpose Vehicle to co-ordinate coconut farming. The coconuts will be utilised for processing in the industries to be set up in the park.

Investors as well as farmers’ clusters would be allowed to set up processing units for edible and non-edible products.

A senior official associated with the project said the project would be developed in the public-private participation model. It is expected to be completed in three years. Creation of world-class infrastructure facilities would bring in higher investment in the sector, resulting in a quantum jump in exports, he said.

The coconut farming sector has been facing a host of problems such as un-remunerative prices, competition from other edible oils, diseases affecting palms and low yield. The sector depends mainly on domestic use as well as processing by traditional methods. The plan for replacing old palms having low yield with high-yielding varieties has not attained momentum. Several avenues for value addition have been identified, but initiatives in these areas have yet to get desired results.

The park will have infrastructure facilities and technology for value added production of coconut products. It will also facilitate co-ordination of collection of raw material. The establishment of an integrated value chain will put to full commercial use all parts of the coconut tree.