Bangalore is of course best
known for its IT sector, which is a cause of anxiety even for U.S. President
Obama who keeps raising the bogey of Bangalore snatching jobs from the
U.S. Bangalore is also known for the Kind
of Good Times – no prizes for guessing who that Kingfisher is! You will have seen his cricketers, if not his
calendar girls!
Bangalore is home to another
King – the king of nuts – coconuts. He
has, over the last 40 years, been instrumental in bringing about a relatively
unsung revolution in the production of coconuts and its various by
products. Meet the unassuming David J.
Lobo (see pic), the Chairman of the Deejay Group; that has stakes in coconut
breeding, agriculture, aquaculture, Processed Foods and Information Technology
(how can one live in Bangalore without the IT tag?). Lobo has also started the
Bridge Foundation for micro enterprise development, and is the co-founder of
the Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship, a lay initiative. It is
a non-profit organization that is rated among the top 20 management colleges in
India.
The coconut story makes
sense when we first understand that over 90% of the world’s coconut growers are
small or marginalized farmers. This has
been a determining factor in Lobo’s growth plan. His business mantra is “A sale is not
complete until the farmer receives the anticipated benefits “. The Deejay Group has received several Central
and State awards for productivity and rural development, including from the National
Productivity Council of India. Yet Lobo
believes that his only “profit is and must be the legitimate reward for service
rendered to society”.
Just look at some of the
case studies of how Deejay has transformed lives. Take T.V. Asokan of Coimbatore, who was
scornfully referred to as the village drunkard.
He had four acres of land and a monthly income of Rs. 6000/-. In 1993 he
started off with 210 Deejay hybrid coconut plants. He now earns Rs. 32,000/- pm and has
purchased 5 more acres of land. His
children are educated and living in comfort. At another extreme is Mukudapathy
of Thiruppur. He started using Deejay
Hybrids in 1991. At that time he had 10
acres of land, which has now grown 10 times to 100 acres. He is now harvesting 97,000 coconuts a month
and earning over Rupees Ten Lakhs per month.
He attributes 80% of his success and wealth to his coconut plantation.
How did Lobo and his Deejay
Group transform the lives of thousands of marginal and middle level
farmers? It is long story, dating back
to 1983. That is when the Deejay Coconut
Breeding Project was launched, under the able guidance of an UN Expert, Prof
Anthony Davis. Today the enterprise has
supplied over Twenty Lakh commercial coconut seedlings to farmers – resulting
in high productivity, high performance and considerably enhanced income.
Deejay was one of the first
to computerize coconut production data, way back in 1981; and today has a data
bank on the production history of over 20,000 coconut palm trees. It is this scientific and methodical approach
that has reaped rich dividends; as the fruit of the research is directly
benefitting the end user – the farmer.
Deejay doesn’t just sell hybrid seedlings and forget about them. They have a dedicated team with literature
and technical support for the farmers.
Today Deejay has huge breeding plantations in Madurai and Ambur in Tamil
Nadu, Bailur in Karnataka and Sanguem in Goa.
Deejay, through is
scientific research and data banks, was able to produce a hybrid variety of
coconut palm now known as the Deejay Dwarf (see pic). Dwarf is something of a misnomer. It is only a comparative word, because
coconut palms are usually very tall. By
evolving a Dwarf variety (lesser height) the farmer is benefitted because it is
easier for him to monitor his crop, as also to harvest it. Those familiar with agriculture will have
heard of dwarf varieties of wheat that have shorter stalks and higher yield.
The comparative chart of the
Deejay Dwarf with regular tall palms (see box) is an eye –opener. While a regular tree takes 6 years to flower,
Deejay does it in just two years. Since
the gestation period is considerably less, it means that the return on
investment starts coming in much faster. Though the price of a Deejay seedling
is 7 times that of a normal one, it is a small price to pay, considering the
yield, and lower total investment. The
nut yield per tree, besides being faster, is also much higher, and the amount
of copra (dried coconut) per nut is almost double. The yield of Tender Coconut Water (TCW) is 2
½ times more than the normal, the nut yield per hectare (ha) is three times
more, the copra yield is 6 times more and the coconut oil yield is 5 times
more. The net profit over 50 years is a
staggering eight times more! So isn’t
the Deejay coconut an agricultural marvel, and the man behind it truly the king
of coconuts?
Lobo feels that the coconut
has been under rated for too long, even in Kerala, which actually means the
land of the coconut (Keralam). There are
three varieties of coconut palms today – those grown for nuts, oil or TCW. Deejay has evolved a particular hybrid that
produces over 700 ml of TCW per nut.
Research on oil production is underway, to evolve a hybrid that would
produce 10 tonnes of coconut oil per ha.
Wonders never cease.
The British took our
indentured labour to work in the sugar cane fields in the West Indies, the Fiji
Islands, Singapore and South Africa. But
they didn’t stumble on a big secret, that the palm tree actually produces more
sugar than cane. Lobo says that cane, which has an annual crop, produces 5 to 8
tonnes per ha per annum. But the Deejay hybrid produces 52.5 tonnes per ha per
annum as the sap can be extracted for 300 days per annum. Where was this genius all this time? It seems too good to be true!
Other than nuts, copra, oil,
TCW and sugar, this wonder tree’s by products have several other uses. The wood is denser than teak and makes
excellent rafters. Coir was of course
being used for ropes and floor matting.
But China is now picking it all up to make interiors for automobiles,
which do not emit toxic gases like petroleum-based products. Even the lowly pith, a spongy brown and
fluffy substance, mountains of which covered the countryside, is now being
compressed into blocks and exported. Because
of its high water absorption levels it is now being used extensively in
horticulture, floriculture, etc.
Northerners like me aren’t
enamoured of coconut oil. But Lobo
refers to Dr Mary Enig, an American nutritionist. She has been up in arms against the huge
lobbies for corn, soya and groundnut oil in the U.S. There are two types of
coconut oil – Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) that is less viscous and
colourless. It is extracted from fresh
coconuts. Enig says that VCO is even
healthier than Virgin Olive Oil.
Mediterraneans beware; the Indians are coming, with their VCO. The regular coconut oil (CNO) is that which
is extracted from the dried kernels, the copra. But VCO with it rich source of
Lauric acid is the healthiest oil, says Enig. From the nutrition angle, TCW is
the healthiest drink because of its natural electrolytes, minerals and
potassium. In like manner palm sugar is
also healthier, as its glycemic index is just 35 as compared to 80 for cane
sugar. All in all one would have to bow
one’s head in wonder at the many attributes of the coconut tree. Small wonder then that even in North India,
where coconuts don’t grow, it is used in all auspicious Hindu rituals.
David J. Lobo has come a
long way from the days when he had joined the Redemptorist congregation to be a
priest. He calls them the 6 happiest
years of his life. But he learnt the
value of honesty and integrity in business from his father, Francis Xavier
Lobo, a senior engineer in the railways.
Despite hardships and set backs, especially in his earlier poultry
business, David firmly believes that honesty is still the best policy. He has a word of advice for Christian youth
who are always hankering after jobs and security. Business involves taking risks. He appeals to our youth “Get into business as
your first choice. Only through business
can you become an agent of change in a major way”.
David is a committed
Catholic. When I first met him in 1986,
he was the Treasurer of the All India Catholic Union. Talking of the laity in the Catholic Church
he emphatically states that their opinions just don’t count. Speaking of the hierarchy he says that they
are lacking in love, humility and inclusiveness. Fear of damnation is still the driving force,
and the laity, instead of experiencing the “glorious liberty of the children of
God” (Rom 8:21), actually lives in guilt and fear, so they become defeatists
and losers. He thanks God “for the few
dissenting voices among the lay people”.
He feels that Vatican II’s wished for renewal is now sliding
backwards. But he does set great hope in
Pope Francis, depending “on how long he lives “!
The pillar of strength
alongside David is his equally dynamic wife Aloma (nee Cordeiro) whom he
married in 1972. A doctor by profession,
she made great sacrifices to support her husband and care for their first three
children. Later God gifted three more to
them, including Nisha (now 14), who was born with a congenital illness,
Lamellar Icthyosis, where her skin dies and peels constantly. She was born without eyelids. Nisha, together with her proud and caring
parents appeared on actor Amir Khan’s hugely popular TV show “Satyamev
Jayate”. It was the 6th
episode, broadcast in June 2012. At that
time Nisha did not even tell her school friends that she was shooting for Khan,
lest they feel envious! That is why David and Aloma say that they “are the
luckiest people to be privileged to have her in their lives”.
Aloma herself headed the
Central Government’s “Central Adoption Resources Authority”, New Delhi, and it
was largely through her efforts that the Government made an amendment to the
“Juvenile Justice Care and Maintenance Act 1990” that gave a legal right to all
Indians, including Christians and Muslims, to adopt children.
So the Lobos are life
givers, not just to coconut farmers, but also to childless parents, and a
beacon of hope for the Catholic laity of India.
Truly David J. Lobo of the Deejay Group is not just he King of Good
Coconuts, but the King of Hearts as well.
The Ace is no longer up his sleeve, it is now out in the open for all to
benefit from; for “a sale is not complete until the intended beneficiary
receives the desired results”.
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