The board's answer to falling coconut yields: nurseries, seed gardens and a climbers' force

Background

A set of schemes to lift productivity has been drawn up by the Coconut Development Board, or CDB, as Kerala reports a steep decline in coconut production. They cover a cluster-based productivity enhancement scheme, subsidy for coconut nurseries, help for nucleus coconut seed gardens and assistance to widen the area under the crop. Under a scheme called Cocomitra, 10 persons can together set up a legal entity such as a cooperative society and claim Rs 2.5 lakh for equipment and mobility support. For nurseries the Board gives Rs 90 for each seedling raised in the public sector and half of that in the private sector. A nursery with more than 20,000 quality seedlings can be accredited under the Board scheme called Accreditation and Rating of Coconut Nursery. A cultivator setting up a nucleus seed garden can get Rs 3.60 lakh per hectare, with two hectares as the minimum area. Productivity improvement in existing holdings carries a subsidy of Rs 42,000 per hectare for up to two hectares per beneficiary. About 38% of the farms in the State have grown old and senile, and pests and diseases have pulled yields down, the board says.