The outbreak of diseases affecting coconut trees also has reduced coconut production, Agriculture Minister P. Prasad said.
Coconut production in the State has fallen from 5,873 million units in 2015-16 to 4,814 million units in 2019-20, according to figures placed by Agriculture Minister P. Prasad in the Assembly on Tuesday. He said though there is a fall in production, it is not an alarming situation. The fall in production is due to the reduction in area under coconut cultivation, which came down from 7,90,223 hectares in 2015-16 to 7,60,775 hectares in 2019-20.
Mr. Prasad said the reduction in area could be attributed to the conversion of area previously under coconut cultivation for house construction and other non-agricultural purposes. The outbreak of diseases affecting coconut trees also has reduced coconut production. The non-availability of workers and lack of proper irrigation have also resulted in reduced production.
He said the government has been taking various steps including ways to control diseases and scientific upkeep of trees to increase production. The Keragramam project has proved to be successful with the increase in production to 10,379 coconuts from a hectare of land, in areas which it was implemented. An amount of ₹50 lakh has been set aside in the current financial year to control diseases affecting coconut trees.
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