| SMART JOURNAL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT STUDIES |
VOL. 15 |
NO. 1 |
PAPER 7 |
10.5958/2321-2012.2019.00007.1 |
PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS
OF COCONUT PRODUCER ORGANIZATIONS IN KERALA - AN EXPLORATORY STUDY
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| Veerakumaran, G.*, and Vinaikumar, E**
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| * Professor, Department of Cooperative Management, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, Kerala
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| ** Professor and Head, Department of Cooperative Management, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, Kerala
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| The State of Kerala is entirely different from other States in India. The unique ‘Kerala Model of Development’, resulted in the highest ‘Human Development Index’ in the country. Kerala has the largest area under coconut cultivation in the country but in terms of production, it comes third. Hence the Government of Kerala has been encouraging entrepreneurial ventures, for the production of value added products like desiccated coconut, beverages, shell based products, coconut cream, Neera etc. Under these circumstances, the Coconut Development Board also promotes coconut producers’ organizations to support the coconut farmers in Kerala. However, they face many problems and need strong intervention to streamline the functioning of the system. This is an attempt to highlight the problems, faced by the Coconut Producer Companies (CPCs) in Kerala and to examine its prospects. It is an ongoing, funded project and six CPCs were considered for the study. Though the selected CPCs were engaged in production, processing and marketing of coconut products, they have not realised the full potential still. Many federations and societies are non-functional. They mobilized equity share capital and borrowed money to invest in plant and machineries. But they did not follow best practices as far as fund management was concerned. Many CPCs are in the debt trap and need bailout strategy by the State and Union Governments. The Government should train the management committee and other executives, particularly on financial management. If the CPCs are directed to move in the right direction, coconut farmers can double their farm income.
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