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| Thursday, 27 January 2005 |
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CDA support for an alternative for coconut milk by AnjanaSamarasinghe The Coconut Development Authority (CDA) is planning to provide technical support to entrepreneurs to produce an alternative coconut milk product to the market which would help reduce the number of coconuts used for household consumption. The main objective of this initiative is to provide more nuts for the coconut export industries. The new coconut milk product in the form of cream will be convenient for consumers and it contains all the nutrients and taste of natural coconut milk. Director (Processing Development) of CDA W.K.N. Shanthichandra said by using this coconut milk in preparing food it will save more nuts for export and raw materials for coconut based industries. "We have allocated Rs. 2 million for the project. Through this project we hope to provide financial assistance and technical support for manufacturers who wish to manufacture this coconut cream. The total coconut production in Sri Lanka is three billion nuts per year and nearly 75 percent of this is used for domestic use for export. A part of it is also used to manufacture other coconut-based products. Many housewives are in the habit of throwing coconut shells and other items which are used as raw materials for coconut based products and industries. "There is no program to collect these waste items. If we promote the use of this coconut cream for cooking there will be a proper mechanism to collect these waste items for industries. Sometimes coconut based products manufacturers have to close down their factories due to the lack of raw materials, he said. Sri Lanka's main competitors are Indonesia and the Philippines who provide more nuts for export than for their domestic use. In 2003, the total coconut production was 2,562 million nuts and 1,922 million nuts used for domestic consumption. 585 million nuts were exported. We have earned Rs. 13,730 million by exporting coconut products, he said. |
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