Welcome to AICRP on Palms
Plantation crops constitute an important segment of horticulture in Indian agriculture. Palms such as Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.), Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) and Palmyrah(Borassus flabellifer L.) have contributed significantly for the rural economy of our country. More than 20 million people in rural areas are engaged in the production, processing and marketing the products of these three crops. The long term nature of research on thesecrops, the prospects of higher returns from research investment and the likely distribution of research benefits to the small holders and economically disadvantaged sections of the society, make it imperative to strengthen the research programme on these crops.
The average coconut productivity in India is still at a low level (7307 nuts/ha/year) (2012-2013) as compared to the production potential of 27300 nuts/ha/year. This indicates the scope for increasing the productivity by bridging the yield gap through the use of quality planting materials and adoption of better management practices. Though the coconut growing regions have substantially increased their total nut production during the past, still there is a need to address location specific problems for sustaining and improving the productivity levels.
Oil palm is one of the highest oil yielding crops under equatorial bioclimatic conditions that could help the country to minimize the edible oil imports with the cultivation of location-specific oil palm hybrids along with the required management practices. Under intensive management conditions providing recommended dose of fertilizer and irrigation, farmers can realize an annual yield of around 20 tonnes of FFB; yielding about 4 tonnes of oil/ha. Still there is a potential to increase the productivity in different agroclimatic situations.
Palmyrah palm, adorns the dry landscape of the semi arid regions of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Karnataka and Maharashtra. India has nearly 102 million palms and half of them are in Tamil Nadu. Out of 51.9 million palms in Tamil Nadu, more than 50% of palms are concentrated.... Read More
