CMIC

Coconut farm owners now have a reason to smile because coconut tree climbers, a rarety these days, are now just a phone call away. The Coconut Development Board (CDB) upgraded its website on Tuesday with the contact details of 1000 tree climbers across districts trained by the board couple of months ago. Those who need their service, can contact the nearest certified climber and book his service.

The board decided to help owners and revive coconut cultivation by offering proffesional training to youth under the ‘Friends of Coconut’ program. Till date, 1,340 trainees have successfully completed training and are employed now.

The programme aims to recruit 5,000 youngsters who will embrace this profession within a year. Unemployed youth from 10 major districts will be selected and trained in technical skills and entrepreneurship development. The plan is to train 500 persons from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Allapuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Pallakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod. This group will form the basic manpower to take care of coconut, the unique and versatile crop of Kerala.

Kerala has over 15 core of coconut palms and so a minimum 30,000 climbers are required for harvest. CDB has joined hands with KAU and other institutes attached to the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) as well as NGOs to meet manpower requirements.

The program envisages a comprehensive training module covering coconut climbing technique, harvesting operations, pest control measures, pollination and hybridization methods, plant protection operations and identification of tender, mature and seed nuts. The list of coconut tree climbers is available at http:coconutboard.gov.in/Friends-district.htm. For more details, contact board officials 0484-2375999. (The Times of India)