In a bid to train youth and farmers in tapping neera, the Udupi Kalparasa Coconut and All Spices Farmer Producer Company is setting up a model farm in the district.
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Neera is a sweet sap extracted from the inflorescence of coconut palms. It is a non-alcoholic thirst quencher, high in nutritional value. The model farm is coming up on 2.75 acres land at Japti near Kundapur.
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The company will be planting 180 coconut nurseries of different varieties at this farm. The training will start at this farm in about three-and-a-half years when neera can be tapped from these trees.
As part of its long-term plan, the company will construct a training centre for this purpose at the farm in three months.
As many as 4,820 farmers, belonging to 54 coconut societies in Udupi district, are supporting this initiative. A total of 1,028 farmers are shareholders in the company.
The objective of this company is to help the coconut farmers of district by manufacturing neera, and products, such as sugar, honey, chocolate, made out of neera, and also coconut oil and coconut milk.
The company’s target to start the commercial sale of neera in May suffered a setback owing to the COVID-19 lockdown.
“We will start manufacturing neera, neera sugar and neera honey by this October. We will be selling them at three outlets – Udupi, Kundapur and Japti – in the district. Neera will be sold as a health drink in 200ml bottles,” Satyanarayana Udupa, chairman of the company, told The Hindu .
Presently, 18 youths have taken preliminary training in tapping neera at the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod.
“We will soon hold talks with the Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Brahmavar for training the youth in tapping neera as it is located in our district. We will start training in our training centre within four years,” he said.
“Neera has lot of demand as a health and nutritional drink. This initiative by the farmers will catch up,” said Guruprasad, Assistant Horticulture Director.