As part of ‘Bharat ki Azadi Ka Amruth Mahotsav’ ICAR-CPCRI, Regional Station Kayamkulam organized ‘Coconut Advisory Series - 2021’ entitled ‘Coconut Based Sustainable Agriculture’ on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 16th July to 1st September, 2021. The major objective of the advisory series was to empower the coconut farmers of Kerala on the scientific management of coconut palm with value addition technologies for doubling the farm income. The series started with ICAR Foundation Day lecture by Dr. S. Kalavathi, Acting Head on the topic ‘How to make coconut cultivation sustainable in the changing climate’. There were a total of twenty lectures in the series wherein the farmers were sensitized in a detailed and comprehensive way on every aspects of coconut cultivation including information on coconut varieties, mother palm selection, nursery management, planting and aftercare, nutrition management, irrigation, intercropping, pest and disease management in coconut and intercrops, organic recycling, use of microbes, value addition and entrepreneurial opportunities in coconut sector. Dr. Chandrika Mohan, Dr. Anithakumari, Dr. Abdul Haris, Dr. Regi Jacob Thomas, Dr. Joseph Rajkumar, Dr. Shareefa M., Dr. K. Nihad, Dr. Merin Babu, Dr. Jeena Mathew, Dr. Anes K.M., Dr. Indhuja S., Dr. Shameena Beegum, Dr. T. Sivakumar and Mrs. G. Lekha functioned as resource persons for the advisory series.

Farmers from all over the Kerala have registered and attended the advisory series which was conducted online in Zoom platform and simultaneously as YouTube live. More than 11000 views have been registered averaging more than 500 views per session in YouTube, which is a visible evidence on the success of the programme. Each session consisted of 30 to 45 minutes lecture followed by one hour discussion on the topic. Active involvement of the participant farmers was evident during the interactive sessions arranged at the end of each lecture, wherein all the queries were properly addressed by the resource persons. The programme was well received and appreciated by the coconut farmers of Kerala. The technological inputs as lecture series are currently available online in ICAR-CPCRI YouTube for further reference. In addition a WhatsApp group was formed for the registered participants for reporting all types problems faced by the coconut farmers and for sharing latest information on scientific coconut cultivation as well as for the exchange of farm produce among the member.

The Webinar series was coordinated by Dr. Anes K.M., Dr. A. Josephrajkumar, Dr. Sharefa M., Dr. Merin Babu and Dr. S. Kalavathi.