The Project Approval Committee (PAC) on Technology Mission on Coconut (TMOC) will fund 24 more projects in addition to the already approved 18 new projects this year.
This was informed to F&B News in a chat over telephone by an official from the Coconut Development Board (CDB).
The TMOC, which is a major project by CDB in the last fiscal, completed 60-70 projects. "The TMOC projects include four research studies, establishment of processing units and market promotion and setting up of coconut hybrid seedlings production units," stated the official.
He explained that the coconut-based projects being funded by the CDB under the TMOC for 2012-13 primarily pertained to setting up of Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) manufacturing unit-integral coconut products in Meppayyur, Kozhikode, at a cost of Rs 109 lakh.
Establishment of VCO manufacturing unit at Kinfra Industrial Park, Kasaragod, at a cost of Rs 108.70 lakh is another outlay under the same project.
The official also mentioned establishment of an integrated coconut processing unit for production of VCO and desiccated coconut in Kattakkada, Trivandrum, at a cost of Rs 108 lakh and setting up of two dessicated coconut powder manufacturing units in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 54.81 lakh and Rs 137 lakh respectively as among the targets for the year 2012-13.
The official informed that setting up of a coconut processing unit at Palakkad has been outlayed a cost of Rs 43 lakh. He added that setting up a coconut shell charcoal manufacturing unit at Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 48.59 lakh was in the pipeline.
Other areas of focus include setting up an activated carbon unit at a cost of Rs 326 lakh, setting up of coconut ball copra making unit in Koorara, Thalassery, Kannur, at Rs 18.032 lakh, and a coconut processing unit for production of copra in Meenakshipuram, Coimbatore, at a cost of Rs 51 lakh.
Other interesting projects include setting up of tender coconut water preservation and packaging unit in Delhi at a cost of Rs 151.48 lakh, manufacture of carbonised shells lumps and granules at Vinayakanagar, Tiptur, at a cost of Rs 34.57 lakh.
