Onattukara Coconut Producer Company Ltd (OCPCL) is located in Vettikodu, Kattanam, Alappuzha district of Kerala, the one among the fourteen districts of the State of India. It is an initiative of Onattukara coconut farmers, and formed under the provision of Indian Companies act 1956, under the initiative and supervision of the Coconut Development Board, Government of India.
It is one among the 29 Companies presently registered under the initiative of Coconut Development Board, Government of India. Being a direful and challenging initiative of small and marginal coconut farmers, it is aiming the welfare of more than 25000 farmers in the area, of whom, 4000 are share holders. The company is encouraging the coconut farmers to move towards value added coconut products, thus supporting the endeavor of realizing consistent and higher income for the farmers. The concept of three tier farmers collective's viz., Coconut Producer Societies, Coconut Producer Federations and Coconut Producer Company has been adopted here. Under the ambit of Onattukara Company there are 235 Coconut Producer Societies and 21 Coconut Producer Federations which together work as a cohesive group.
The Company has established a coconut oil processing plant with an processing capacity of 2400 MT copra per day which in turn yields around 1540 MT coconut oil and 7.2 Million MT of oil cake. The Company invested nearly 1 Million US D for the establishment of the plant. The venture is financially supported by Coconut Development Board and Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium under Government of India as well as Government of Kerala. Since its formal inauguration and launching of first product, the unit manufactured more than 100 MT of coconut oil under the brand name 'Onattukara'.
The Farmer groups are undertaking farm and on-farm activities like coconut nursery raising, establishment of organic manure units, establishment of modern copra dryers, coconut chips making units etc. They do purchase of seeds, procurement of fertilizers, broadcasting, harvesting, collection and sale in groups which ease their financial and physical burden. The Company is procuring raw material for all these products from member farmers by paying remunerative and attractive price to their produce. This has evoked overwhelming enthusiasm among the farmers rather than going in isolation which results in high cost of production and low return. The shareholders and other farmers are thus being benefitted by getting better price for coconut by avoiding the middle men.
The Company has established indigenous markets and is about to move to export market.. Onattukara coconut oil has, by now received good consumer acceptance. The Company has obtained quality certification like FSSAI license and Agmark certification. , The Company has also obtained Import Export License, RCMC, registration from customs, DGFT etc for resorting export through sea/AIR routes. It is proposed to intensify the publicity campaign through multimedia. Without compromising the quality of the product, the company will capture the niche markets for quality coconut oil in edible as well as non-edible sectors.
The Company has set up a Coconut Oil Plant of 10 MT copra processing capacity per day at its Company HQs and commenced the commercial production of coconut oil from 28.5.2017. The financial resource of the Plant was mainly the loan of Rs. 116.00 lakhs availed from Kerala Financial Corporation Alappuzha branch, and equity share mobilised by the Company from farmers to the tune of Rs. 2.25 crores. We have also been sanctioned a back ended credit subsidy of Rs. 40.50 lakhs by Coconut Development Board, Government of India, Kochi under their Scheme, Technology Mission on Coconut(TMOC) and an equity grant of Rs. 40.94 lakhs by State Government through KFC.
So far 300000 litres of quality coconut oil has been manufactured, pouched and bottled in 1kg, 2kg and 500 ml sizes for sale under the brand name ' Onattukara Premium Coconut oil''. The market enquiry for Onattukara coconut oil is highly encouraging. The Company is confident about the successful marketing of its product both in the domestic and international markets. Onattukara coconut oil has, by now received good publicity with the small scale of awareness creation through All India Radio, brochures, and website.
The Products are having ISO certification, QMS and HACCP apart from FSSAI license, AGMAR certification and Barcode for its brand of coconut oil. The Company has also obtained Import Export License, RCMC from CDB. The Company is also planning to get registration from customs, DGFT etc for resorting export through sea/AIR routes. It is proposed to intensify the publicity campaign through multimedia. Without compromising the quality of the product, the company will capture the potential domestic and international markets.
To improve the living standards of coconut farmers and give them complete support and guidance in cultivation and marketing their coconut products.
