The district panchayat, in association with the Kerafed, is launching a copra procession unit at the State Coconut Nursery complex in Karunagapally.
District panchayat secretary K. Anil Kumar said the aim of the unit was to make pure coconut oil available to people of Kollam district.
He said the unit would be inaugurated by Agriculture Minister K.P. Mohanan on June 12. At the function, district panchayat president S. Jayamohan will inaugurate the sales counter for the coconut oil at the complex. The function will be presided over by C. Divakaran, MLA.
The project is being launched at a cost of Rs.17 lakh.
It will have capacity to dry 5,000 coconuts and produce 600 kgs of oil per day. In addition to the outlet at the nursery, retail outlets for the oil produced there will be opened at all farms managed by the district panchayat.
Mr. Jayamohan said tests on various brands of coconut oil available in the open markets had detected that many of them were hazardous to health because of the presence of chemicals.
It was this aspect that prompted the district panchayat to start a copra processing unit for supply pure coconut oil to the people.
