Farmers in Udupi district have formed the Udupi Kalprasa Coconut and All Spices Producer Company and plan to start production of neera in a couple of months to add to their income.
Neera is a sweet sap extracted from the inflorescence of coconut palms. It is a non-alcoholic thirst quencher, high in nutritional value.
As a precursor to the company, the farmers had formed 54 coconuts societies under three coconut federations in Kundapur, Karkala and Udupi taluks in the district. As many as 4,820 farmers are members of the three federations and have 3.88 lakh healthy coconut trees with them.
“Of the 3.88 lakh coconut trees, our company plans to tap 38,560 coconut trees (of the 4,820 farmers) to extract nectar approximately at the rate of eight coconut trees per farmer in the next five years,” said Satyanarayana Udupa, farmer and chairman of the company.
The tapping of neera can be done by either the farmers or by tappers appointed by the company. If farmers take up tapping, they have to spend two-and-half-hours in the morning and two hours in the evening.
“If the tappers do it, then they will get ₹ 30 per litre of neera extracted. The ₹ 30 will include their insurance charges, while the farmers will get ₹ 20 per litre. A coconut tree is expected to give approximately two litres of neera daily,” he said.
The coconut tree could be tapped for about 350 days. The company has taken technical help from the CPCRI, Kasaragod, Kerala, for the icebox to collect the neera. The company will construct a small building within a couple of months for collecting, storing and marketing neera.
Guruprasad, Assistant Director of Horticulture, said that the department had already given its consent letter to the company which had been forwarded to the Excise Department for giving in-principle licence.
“After the nod from the Excise Department, the company will have to work as per the guidelines of the District Neera Committee. Since it is a non-alcoholic beverage, a cold-storage chain will have to be maintained from its collection to its sale,” he said.
In the second phase, the company will expand and a bigger building will be constructed by November, and then produce items such as neera sugar, neera honey, neera chocolate and neera vinegar. “Our total project is estimated at about ₹ 4.5 crore,” Mr. Udupa said.
