National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS)
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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Coconut (Cocos nucifera) cultivation is gradually becoming not profitable due to several causes. To make it profitable, an emphasis is being given on production of neera and its value-added products like sugar, jaggery, and neera based milk made sweets etc. Neera is the sweet, honey-coloured fresh unfermented coconut inflorescence sap collected through ICAR-CPCRI made coco sap chiller box, having total sugar (15.18g),reducing sugar (0.554g), amino acid (0.245g), and rich in minerals like sodium (90.6mg), potassium (168.4mg), phosphorus (3.9mg), manganese (0.012mg) zinc (0.020mg), and iron (0.053 mg) and pH 7.18 with low Glycemic Index (35). It can be consumed even by diabetic patients because of its low Glycemic index. It has also an excellent antioxidant property as it has vitamin E, C and B. In W.B. under the technical supervision of ICAR-CPCRI and BCKV, work on neera collection and its value addition was started on pilot basis in a farmer’s field of Hooghly district where at present on an average 250 liters of sap/year are being produced from six inflorescences of a plant with a minimum return of Rs15000/plant/year leaving rest six for nut production. Neera production has also created an excellent employment opportunity. The farmer having 100 plants can create employment opportunities of 8 heads/year with an average net return of Rs 9, 24,000/year. As value added product neera jaggery, neera sugar and neera based milk made sweets are also being prepared and marketed with higher demand in W.B. the process of which was already patented jointly by the concern scientists of BCKV, ICAR-CPCRI, farmer and sweets maker of W.B. Considering the above fact the scope for tapping of Cocosap neera may also be explored in the coconut growing North Eastern states which may reflect on the state GSDP by uplifting the economic status of the farmers.
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