Coconut oil to get quality assurance logo

Coconut Development Board's move to curb adulteration

The Coconut Development Board (CDB) will issue a quality assurance logo for coconut oil in order to curb adulteration, according to Minnie Mathew, its chairperson.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Minnie said high quality testing laboratory of the board would soon start functioning at Vazhakkulam near Kochi. "It is a long cherished dream of the coconut oil and copra trading since there is no such body in India. The laboratory can detect adulteration of coconut oil, which is quiet common in the oil trading throughout the production centres in South India," she said.

She said adulteration was a major issue being addressed by CDB and packed coconut oil was not free from adulteration. Liquid paraffin and palm kernel oil were widely mixed in coconut oil by unscrupulous traders when its price had peaked above Rs 70 a kg.

Minnie also said CDB would conduct a series of programmes for quality assurance of both copra and coconut oil. CDB would also give prime importance to programmes like ensuring market literacy among the two million-plus coconut growers.

Futures trading in copra would help farmers hedge the risk, discovering future prices and plan the sale of their produce. She said that though Nafed had started procurement of copra, it was not effective due to various reasons. Most of the primary co-operative societies are reluctant to purchase copra from growers as this would result in huge loss to them. This has affected the procurement operations badly.

Societies are now seeking more handling charges in order to avoid huge losses and a decision in this regard is yet to be taken. "The spot market prices of copra are well below the minimum support price of Rs 3,530 a quintal, but Nafed and state co-operative institutions are not active in market intervention operation," she added.

This has resulted in the plummeting of prices of both copra and coconut oil. The oil is being traded at Rs 4,700 -4,750 a quintal which was above Rs 7,000 a few months back. She also opined that minimum support price scheme for copra could not help maintain a good price for it. Futures trading system is another option to have a better price realisation which ultimately benefits coconut farmers, she suggested.

The price determining system of coconut and copra is not at all scientific as it mainly depends on the price of coconut oil alone. She said that product diversification was a major avenue to ensure better price for coconut and CDB was doing a lot in this direction.

Almost 50 percent of the total coconut production is now consumed as tender coconut and other coconut-based products other than coconut oil and copra. CDB had initiated a lot of such diversified products and they have got very good response in India and abroad.