World Coconut Day was observed by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on 2 September to commemorate the founding day of the International Coconut Community (ICC), an intergovernmental organization of coconut producing countries under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP).
The function's chief guest, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar, stated that India has made significant development in the field of coconut. India ranks third in the world in terms of production and productivity. During 2020-21, the country's coconut production was 21207 million nuts, accounting for 34% of global production. The productivity is the greatest in the world, with 9687 nuts per hectare. Farmers are finding work as a result of the growth of new coconut products and companies.
This year's World Coconut Day theme was "Building a safe, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable coconut community amid the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond." Every year, the Coconut Development Board celebrates Coconut Day to raise awareness about the value of coconuts and to draw national and worldwide attention to the coconut industry.
Union Minister Tomar stated on the occasion that coconut has had a significant impact on the country's economy. He urged farmers and entrepreneurs to fully use the coconut sector's potential. He assured farmers that the Central Government is in their support.
The Minister stated that by greatly boosting the agriculture budget, producers will profit from MSP. The Prime Minister is constantly thinking about methods to improve farmer income. According to Tomar, agricultural produce should be of high quality and meet global standards, which will boost exports.
Sushri Shobha Karandlaje, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, said, “since the farmers are small and marginal, the future of our domestic coconut industry lies in our ability to aggregate and pool farm level coconut production, take up processing and value addition for better income realization and give major thrust to product diversification and finding industrial utilization of various by-products and their value addition.”
