Coconut Development Board will soon set up call centre to cater to the needs of coconut growers in the field of plant protection, harvesting and other field operations through skilled coconut climbers — ‘Friends of Coconut Tree’ (FoCT).
The call centre in Kerala operates at the headquarters of the Board in Kochi. Besides, the call centre will be launched parallel in the traditional coconut-growing States of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka through Unit Offices of the Board in States concerned.
A total of 1,552 FoCTs had registered for this call centre. Services of FoCT’s will be available at Block Grama Panchayat level in respective districts for carrying out activities related to coconut cultivation including coconut tree climbing, plant protection, harvesting, seed nut procurement, nursery management etc. Coconut farmers can avail the services of FoCTs through this call centre.
The objective of the call centre is to improvise the activities of coconut sector by linking together the FoCT palm climbers with coconut farmers, farmer producer organisations, coconut entrepreneurs and officials of various Agriculture Departments/Institutions.