Coconut Devpt Board clears projects worth Rs 23 cr

A meeting of the Project Approval Committee (PAC) on Technology Mission on Coconut (TMOC) of  the Coconut Development Board (CDB) has cleared 14 projects with an outlay of Rs 19.25 crore and subsidy of Rs 2.86 crore.

Under the project component, ‘processing and product diversification’, 10 coconut processing units have been sanctioned assistance which includes setting up of five desiccated coconut powder manufacturing units, two tender coconut water (TCW) units, one coconut shell charcoal unit, one coconut shell powder unit and one ball copra unit.

Three research projects were also listed in the approved projects. One unit has been assisted for market promotional activities of coconut kernel products on reimbursement basis.

In Kerala, one unit was sanctioned for producing desiccated coconut powder having the capacity to process 15,000 nuts per day. In Karnataka, four units of desiccated coconut powder having a capacity for processing 240,000 nuts per day, one TCW processing unit with a capacity to process 30,000 tender coconut per day.

In Tamil Nadu, one unit was sanctioned for tender coconut water packing unit with a capacity for processing 60,000 packets per day and one coconut shell powder unit with a capacity to process 6.6 tons per day and another with a capacity to process 3.24 tons per day.

In Andhra Pradesh, the PAC had sanctioned one ball copra unit with a capacity to process 600,000 nuts a year, a CDB press release said.