Every year 2nd September is celebrated as World Coconut Day in order to make people understand that this crop has a vital role in poverty reduction and to provide nutritional and health security, which are the prime need of this hour. Coconut is regarded as a life-giving fruit for its amazing properties and it reduces obesity. A good coconut can give you more than one glass of water. It shelters the body from deadly diseases and boosts the metabolism level, thereby extracting excess weight from the body. Moreover, coconut proves to be beneficial in relieving constipation as the fiber in it assists in digestion. Coconut milk is rich in iron and phosphorus which helps in building strong bones and preventing anaemia. There are great opportunities and potential for production, processing and marketing of value added products of coconut. Coconut is described as “Tree of Life” or ‘Heavenly Tree” because of its unique property by providing food, nutrition, drink, health, aesthetic sense, building material and other useful household material. On this “World Coconut Day”, let us share the importance of this tree by making aware of its intrinsic value in the life of mankind. Coconut production is an alternative method of food production as well as employment generation.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
