Sunday Times 2
From chocs to to bags, at Palmyrah trade fair
Palm ice cream, palm yoghurt, palm cake or palm chocolate anyone? Offering more than traditional kotta kilangu and palm-leaf sourced handicrafts, is the three-day trade exhibition from August 25-27 at the Galle Face Green, presented by the Palmyrah Development Board (PDB). It will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The exhibition is aligned with the theme of the International Symposium on Palmyrah – ‘Let’s globalize the glory of Palmyrah’ which will take place on August 25at the Galle Face Hotel.
The exhibition is a one-stop shop for the best of Palmyrah produce-both edibles and handicrafts. Marketing Manager, PDB, D.G.K. Wahalathantri notes it will bring the best Palmyrah products from the North and East close to the city dweller. “The exhibition will enable the palmyrah lovers to purchase their goods directly from the producers of the North and the East,” says Mr. Wahalathantri adding that nearly 50 trade stalls representing Palmyrah Cooperative Societies and individual producers will be open to the public.
The new palm products will include jam, cordial, yoghurt, chocolate and ice cream, all of which have been locally researched by the Palmyrah Research Centre in Kaithadi. An assortment of items with both utility and ornamental value will also be on offer. A range of marketing baskets which are ideal substitutes for shopping bags have been specially made for the exhibition for the environmental-friendly consumer.
Parallel to the trade fair, the first ever international symposium on Palmyrah, initiated by the PDB, will draw researchers, scientists and multiple stakeholders from India, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam. The symposium is to be a platform of mutual learning and sharing of technological and scientific know-how with other Asian palmyrah growing Asian counterparts, says General Manager, PDB, M.B. Loganathan.
The Symposium which is envisaged to be an annual event in time to come, also hopes to disseminate the latest local research findings on palmyrah including the Glycemic Index of the palmyrah fruit pulp.