Necessity is mother of invention

Coconut planters in Kerala seem to have found some new products to market in this ever changing world. With rubber prices low, these coconut growers have latched on to, apart from coconut itself, neera and coconut sugar as lucrative by products for the European markets.

Some 25 coconut producers have started production of neera and associated products, ensuring a minimum income of Rs 1,000 per tree a month to farmers from neera alone.  Then there is production of sugar and honey from coconut, which is considered to be much healthier than cane sugar. In fact coconut sugar is stated to be good for diabetics too though science is yet to prove this.

Many of these coconut companies have been formed by numerous coconut societies, with each comprising 40 to 100 farmers, mainly in Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. They are in the process of raising funds to set up processing plants for these products as currently, though they have an order for half a tonne of sugar, due to lack of facilities, they are unable to fulfill the order.

Maybe it’s a good thing that rubber is down or else these new opportunities would have never risen. Who knows, maybe coconut sugar could become the next new big thing? Indeed, necessity is the mother of all inventions.