Saurashtra to get coconut development board centre

Junagadh: Saurashtra will soon get an office of the Coconut Development Board (CDB), a statutory body which works under the Union ministry of agriculture.
"The farmers along the Gujarat coast who cultivate coconut will benefit as the CDB's centre will soon be set up in Saurashtra. Many farmers have been cultivating coconut but this centre will help them add value to their product through research," said Mohan Kundaria, junior agriculture minister.
Kundaria was speaking at a seminar on 'Advances in production and post-harvest management of mango' at the Junagadh Agricultural University (JAU) on Sunday.
"For the first time, we have added horticulture crops including mango in the new crop insurance scheme and farmers will benefit from any damage caused due to natural calamities," Kundaria told the farmers.
Jasa Barad, minister of state for agriculture, Gujarat government, said that the government is also focusing on promoting organic farming. "Keeping this in mind, an Organic Agricultural University will be set up in Vadodara and the state government has already allotted Rs 100 crore for this purpose in the budget," he said.
"The mango crop is weather sensitive and any change in weather adversely affects the yield. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt scientific methods to sustain the income from this over a longer period," said Dr A R Pathak, vice-chancellor, JAU.