World Coconut Day celebrations today

Hyderabad: In the wake of the pandemic situation, the Coconut Development Board is celebrating 23rd World Coconut Day on the theme 'Building a safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable coconut community' on September 2, in association with MIDH Division of Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The celebration is included in the programme 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' as part of the

commemoration of 75 years of India's Independence. In the country the World Coconut Day is celebrated every year under the aegis of the CDB with the active participation of policy makers, progressive farmers, entrepreneurs, exporters, senior officials from the Central ministry, representatives of State Agriculture/ Horticulture departments and other stakeholders.

Due to the pandemic, current year's programme is being organised as a national level webinar. Narendra Singh Thomar, Union Minister for Agriculture, will deliver the keynote address. Ministers of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shobha Karandlaje and Kailas Choudhary and Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers welfare, will address.

Rajbir Singh, Joint Secretary, MIDH and chairman of CDB, will welcome. Around 500 progressive coconut farmers from all coconut- growing States, senior officers from the Agriculture ministry, representatives from State Agriculture/ Horticulture departments and coconut-based entrepreneurs will attend. The event will be followed by a technical session wherein deliberations on recent advances in pest management in coconut and prospects of value addition of coconut water will be held. An interactive session will also be arranged for the participant farmers.