The Project Approval Committee on Technology Mission on Coconut (TMOC) has cleared 43 projects with an outlay of Rs 94.72 crore and a subsidy of Rs 9.87 crore.
As many as nine research projects including process standardisation of Neera are listed in the approved projects.
Under the project component Processing and Product Diversification, 34 manufacturing units have been sanctioned which included setting up of 11 desiccated coconut powder manufacturing units, one virgin coconut oil unit, four tender coconut water units, two coconut milk powder units, one coconut water-based vinegar unit, two coconut shell charcoal units, five coconut shell-based activated carbon, seven ball copra and one milling copra unit.
In Kerala, six units were sanctioned for desiccated coconut powder, virgin coconut oil, coconut milk powder and packaging of tender coconut water having the capacity to process 85,000 nuts a day.
In addition, one vinegar unit, one ball copra unit for processing 80,000 nuts a year and one milling copra unit to Federation of Coconut Producers’ Society (Muthalamada, Palakkad) were also sanctioned.In Karnataka, nine units of Desiccated Coconut Powder having a capacity for processing 2,85,000 nuts/day, one tender coconut water packing unit for processing 20,000 nuts/day and two shell charcoal and one activated carbon unit with a capacity to process 180 tonnes of shell a day were sanctioned.
In Tamil Nadu, three units for tender coconut water and one milk powder unit for processing 1,46,000 nuts a day and three activated carbon having production capacity of 247.50 tonnes shell a day were sanctioned.
In Andhra Pradesh, PAC sanctioned five ball copra units with a capacity to process 41.5 lakh coconuts/year.