JOIN USThe Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative Ltd (Campco) will enter into the procurement and marketing of black pepper in the near future, said president S R Satheeshchandra.
Briefing mediapersons on Wednesday, he said that Campco has conducted a study on the consumption of pepper in the North Indian markets. The infrastructure is being developed for the procurement of pepper. Also, 30 staff members of Campco will be sent for a training to assess the quality of pepper, in Kochi. Campco will also eye for exporting pepper with its value added produce like pepper powder, and pepper oil.
The Campco president said that Campco has achieved business transaction level of Rs 1,591 crore during 2015-16 and fetched a profit of Rs 19 crore. “Campco has announced 10% dividend to its members. During the year, Campco has procured arecanut worth Rs 1,357.79 crore, cocoa worth Rs 78.86 crore and rubber worth Rs 14.03 crore. The cooperative has marketed chocolates worth Rs 56.43 crore and bulk chocolate products worth Rs 141.20 crore,” said Satheeshchandra.
“A technical expert committee, constituted by Campco to prepare guidelines for assessing the quality of arecanut, has submitted a report to the government. We are hopeful of the government approving the guidelines, which, in turn, would arrest the import of poor quality of arecanut to the country,” he added.
“The experts of Campco and CPCRI have prepared an analysis of the cost of production of arecanut. Accordingly, a representation has been submitted to the Centre to fix a minimum support of Rs 250 per kg of white arecanut and Rs 337 per kg of red arecanut. To work on value addition to arecanut, Campco will enter into an MoU with CFTRI, Mysuru,” said the president.
To maintain quality, the Campco chocolate factory is being modernised as per the guidelines of FSSC 22000. All the transactions of Campco will be digitised shortly. With the three windmills installed by Campco at Hoovina Hadagali and Chikkodi in Belagavi, about 73% of the electricity requirement of the Campco factory is met.
The annual general meeting of Campco will be held in Mangaluru on September 17.