Aralam Farm here will soon have a Neera processing plant as part of a project for the farm’s development and for ensuring additional employment opportunities for the tribespeople living in the tribal resettlement areas of the farm.
The plant for production of Neera drink is being set up under the initiative of the Coconut Development Board (CDB) at an estimated cost of Rs. 7.5 crore, District Collector P. Bala Kiran informed in an official pressnote here on Tuesday. The government has already sanctioned Rs. 4 crore for the project submitted by the CDB, he said.
The production capacity of the plant will be 4,000 litres a day of Neera drink from tapping 2,000 coconuts in the first phase. A two-acre plot in the farm is being spruced up for setting up the plant, the release informed. Neera drink was officially launched by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in March last year.
Farmers and tribespeople in the area will be given training in Neera tapping. Over 200 tribespeople in the Aralam area will be trained at the Regional Agricultural Research Station at Pilikkode in Kasaragod, it said.
Income
Once the project is commissioned, the farmers are expected to earn an income of Rs. 10,000-15,000 a month from one coconut palm, the release added.
The Neera processing plant being set up at the Aralam Farm is envisaged as a project for offering job and income for the tribespeople rehabilitated in the farm land.
