Devgad Agro Marketing & Development Centre's

Coconut Farm

  • About Coconut
  • Plantation

About us

Growing Mangoes Devgad Agro Marketing & Development Centre's is a full-fledged service company based in the Konkan Area. We are committed to design, plant, and maintain plantations. We, in this "Go Green, Grow Green" attempt, makes possible for customers to acquire sustainable and superb income source through high yielding commercial plantations and fertile land for such plantations. Rubber, Alphonso Mango, Cashew, Spices, etc. are our regular plantation varieties. We take utmost care in planting the right item in its right environ and keeping the earth in its unadulterated condition. We develop plantations focusing on the health and longevity of plants in harmony with their environments. Sustainable plantations are functional, maintainable, environmentally sound, cost-effective, and beautiful.

If you plan to grow coconuts, better have patience, seven years of patience before you can expect to see any coconuts. The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is considered a "three generation tree," supporting a farmer, his children, and his grandchildren. Some trees, which can grow to a height of 60 to 100 feet, even survive all three generations. Cocos nucifera, nucifera meaning nut-bearing, has only one species that includes both the tall and the dwarf coconut tree, but many varieties exist within the species.

Though the coconut is commonly considered a nut, botanically it is classified as a drupe and is the largest of all fruit seeds. The coconut consists of the thin, strong outer layer or skin called the epicarp, the thick fibrous layer called mesocarp, and the dark brown hard shell called the endocarp that encases the coconut flesh. Just beneath the endocarp is the testa, the thin deep brown layer that clings to the white coconut meat.

Coconut Palm Tree: The Tree of Life

Coconut PalmThe Coconut tree is known to have many uses, from its roots to tips (leaves), from culinary to non-culinary consumer products, industrial products and medicinal products. To many around the world, the coconut tree is considered the "Tree of Life".

Botanical name: Cocos nucifera

Family: Palmae, the palm family (also known as Arecaceae)

The Plant (tree)
Coconut palms can grow to between 15 and 30 m tall in plantations. Their trunks are ringed with scars where old leaves have fallen. The top of the trunk is crowned with a rosette of leaves.

Leaves
The leaves are feather-shaped and split into lots of leaflets. Long leaves can grow up to 7 m long and can have 250 leaflets. They can used for matting, weaving and thatching.

Flowers
Male and female flowers grow on the same plants on flowering branches. Flowers are pale yellow and are about 1 cm long. The base of flowering branches is tapped for sap.

Cross sectionFruit (coconut)
They are oval and covered with a smooth skin which can be bright green, brilliant orange or ivory coloured. Underneath this skin is a thick fibrous layer which is used for coir. The next layer is the shell of the seed with the three characteristic 'eyes'. The shell may be used to make charcoal and eating utensils. The inside of the shell is lined with a white, edible layer called the meat or copra. This is also made into chemical, industrial and medicinal products. The fluid inside the seed cavity is known as coconut water. When seeds germinate, the new shoot sprouts from one of the eyes.

The coconut is the only species in the genus Cocos.

Coconut - production & trade

Coconut palms have been called the 'tree of life' because of the huge variety of uses. They are cultivated throughout the tropics for fibre and fuel, but are best known as a food. They are also the seventh most important vegetable oil crop in the world.

Cultivation
Plantations are usually created by planting seeds. Initially they are kept in germination beds until the first leaf unfolds. Once this happens, they are planted out in neat rows in fields.

Harvesting and Processing
The first flowers can appear from two to seven years depending on the cultivar and the coconuts can be harvested about a year after this. Coconuts are the most important part of the palm and are usually harvested by nimble tree climbers who cut ripe bunches down.

Fallen fruits are also gathered from the ground or might be cut from palms using knives attached to long bamboo poles. Coconut palms can remain productive for 50 to 100 years, though yields are highest at between about 10 and 20 years.

Harvested coconuts are stored until the fibrous husks are completely dry. Then they are de-husked by striking and twisting onto a steel spike that is placed firmly in the ground. This fibre is used to make coir. For desiccated coconut, coconut cream, oils and other processed forms, shells of coconuts are split with a hatchet of knife and the white meat is removed. Oil is made from copra which is the dried meat of the coconut and can be milled to produce cake or oil used in cosmetic, industrial and medicinal products. It is a source of lauric acid used to make common detergents like soaps, though it's facing increasing competition from other oils on the world market. The shells are used for all manner of utensils, vessels, carvings and even charcoal for burning or filtering purposes.

Commercial/Industrial Uses of Coconut

Coconut oil
The oil is also used on a day to day basis in many household products such as soaps, cosmetics and shampoos. This is because the fatty acids in coconut oil make good creams and detergents. Coconut oil contains fatty acids which are antimicrobial and a compound called sucrose cocoate, which is moisturising. The oil is used in skin soothing treatments to ease inflammation such as eczema and psoriasis. Scalp creams and shampoos containing coconut oil include Cocois and Capasal. Sucrose cocoate is also added to some pharmaceutical preparations because it can help the body to absorb certain drugs.

Coconut water
Coconut water, a popular drink from the mature fruits, is nutritious and contains sugars, vitamin E, amino acids and minerals. It is also an antioxidant.

Coconuts are not harmful to the health, but regular consumption of large amounts of coconut oil may not be advisable because it contains saturated fat, which is associated with heart disease. Coconut soap may cause irritation to the skin of people sensitive to it.

Food
A 16th century explorer appreciated the virtues of coconuts when he wrote "as we have bread, wine, oil and vinegar, so...they extract all these things from this one tree." Coconut is indeed a key ingredient in South Asian cuisine. From sweets and syrups to curries and chutneys, the fruits and other parts are eaten.

Coconut milk and cream is made by pouring boiling water over freshly grated meat and squeezing out the liquid.

It can be diluted with water to create different thicknesses for sweet and savoury dishes and baked products. It gives a unique and creamy texture to rice, chutneys and curries. Coconut milk and cream is sold in powdered and canned forms. In British shops it's most likely to be found in cans.

Desiccated coconut is the washed, steamed, shredded and dried meat used in sweets, baking, savoury dishes and as snack food. The oil is used for cooking, and to make margarine, ice creams and sweets. Oil can be processed using fresh coconut or more often, by pressing dried coconut meat, known as copra. Ball copra is produced by slow drying, de-husking and shelling of the whole nut. It is used to prepare sweets offered during religious and cultural events. Coconut water from the seed cavity is sweet, and is now commercially extracted and preserved as a drink.

Palm hearts and sap
As with many other palms, the heart is a delicacy. It is the tender, young apex at the top of the stem, also known also as palm cabbage. Coconut palms yield one of the heaviest palm hearts, which can weigh in at up to 12 kg. A sweet sap, known as toddy, is tapped from unopened flowering branches. To collect the sap, the base of the flowering branch is bashed with a mallet and a small slit is made in the skin covering the flowering branch. A container is placed beneath the slit to collect the fluid that oozes out. This can be boiled to give a rich palm sugar.

The palm sugar is fermented into an alcoholic wine which, in turn, can be distilled into strong liquor called arak. Palm wine is produced as a by-product of palm vinegar.

Crafts
Coconut palms provide materials such as fibres and woods that are used in all kinds of South Asian crafts. From ropes and rugs to brushes and bowls, some of these are traditional and used in everyday life in South Asia. Others are popular among tourists or are exported overseas.

Coir
Coir is the fibre from the outer husk of coconuts. The husk is soaked in water before the fibres are teased apart. It can then be twisted into yarn, called coir.

Coir fibre is traditionally used to make fishnets and bind together frames for houses. Coir swells slightly when put in water, so it used to be used for binding and plugging the spaces between planks on hulls of boats. Marco Polo used coir to sew planks together for ship building. The best coir is used to make matting, rugs and carpets. Lower grade coir is used to make ropes, brushes and even household doormats that many people in the western world use every day to wipe their feet.

Leaves, stems and fruit
Leaves of coconut palms are traditionally woven together to make baskets, fans, hats and mats. The leaves have been used to thatch buildings and make brooms. The trunk of the palm can be used like wood to make furniture, household utensils and for building. The hard coconut shell is perfectly shaped to make drinking bowls, spoons, ladles, hookah pipes, salad servers and rubber latex collecting cups. They are also carved to make decorative objects such as picture frames.


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