Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (ICAR-CPCRI)-Kasargod has been granted a national patent for its invention, ‘Manually Operated Coconut Kernel Slicing Machine’, from Indian Patent Office.
The machine developed by the Institute is for slicing coconut kernel. Coconut chips (also a patented technology of the CPCRI) was made manually using the potato slicer prior to the invention. The process was quite cumbersome and time-consuming.
Coconut chips of uniform size and thickness can be made faster using the machine without any drudgery. The patented machine was commercialised by the Institute and is used by many entrepreneurs in the coconut chips processing centres across India, said Dr Anitha Karun, Director (In-charge) of CPCRI.
Another patent granted recently is for ‘A Controlled Release Dispenser,' with ordered pore channels, for delivery of semiochemicals of rhinoceros beetle and red palm weevil’ which was developed jointly by CPCRI and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Department of Science and Technology, Bengaluru.
The CPCRI has already received seven patents for its machineries for coconut processing and value addition previously.