Name : Late MJ Joseph alias Appachan
District & State : Kannur (Cannanore), Kerala
Category : Agricultural (General)
Award : Posthumous
Award Function : 7th National Grassroots Innovation Awards
Award Year : 2013
Price : Iron body: Rs 2,500/- (The price does not include transportation costs, taxes, etc.) Steel body: Rs 5,000/- (The price does not include transportation costs, taxes, etc.)
Delivery Period : 10 days
Innovation Description
- Award Status
- IPR Status
- Technical Specification
- Salient Features
The first thing that comes to the mind when one imagines Kerala is the ubiquitous coconut tree, and why not, Kerala literally means the land of the coconut palm. Kerala and coconut trees have been much in the news 
together just a couple of years ago. Not any problem with either the tree or Kerala but with the coconut climbers. Traditionally professional climbers (thandan) have been engaged by coconut farmers for harvesting. With time
the choice of profession has also changed. It has become quite difficult to find such climbers for the farmers. As imagining life without coconut is impossible, the only option available is to find a way to climb the coconut tree. An innovative farmer from Kannur imagined this problem coming almost a decade and half ago and developed a coconut tree climber. M J Joseph alias Appachan was a school dropout but an innovative farmer. Though Appachan could not get much formal education, he had the gift to learn from his surroundings. His first invention was an instrument that could squeeze coconut milk and juice from fruits. It could not gain popularity, as the instrument was expensive. He tried several other innovations also but most popular of them even today remains the tree climber.