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| Tuesday, 6 April 2004 |
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Tea comment : Impetus to coconut cultivation vital by Steve A. Morrell The extent under coconut in Sri Lanka is one million acres. This is much more than the area under tea, said Ranjith Dias, President of the Coconut Growers' Association. The Coconut Growers' Association has a membership of 770 and is now incorporated as a limited liability under the Companies Act No. 17 of 1982. The Association is also a member of the National Chamber of Commerce, and plays an important role in the activities of the Industry. However, the coconut industry has been relegated to the background and more or less treated as a 'Country cousin'. This was disappointing, because most of the smallholders depend on coconut for their survival, and unless they were encouraged, coconut cultivation would face a bleak future. There are over 700,000 smallholders whose livelihood depend on this industry. Contrary to common views, coconut growing is no longer lucrative and unless incentives and tangible encouragement was given these smallholders would face difficulties. In 2003, production was 2.6 billion nuts, whereas domestic consumption was 1.8 billion. The Association expects production to increase in 2004 to three billion. But would it be worth the effort? he asked. He said that prices were poor and barely sufficient to sustain the industry. Coconut formed the triad of the lucrative plantation industry at the time of independence. The manufacture of desiccated coconut absorbs 560 million nuts annually, and coconut oil requires 500 million nuts. Coconut oil production has topped 56,818 MT, but although these product lines form a vital part of the industry, prices at grower level were not encouraging to sustain further progress. The Coconut Triangle formed by the districts of Kurunegala, Puttalam and Kalutara produce over 80% of the annual output, but due to the peace initiatives which commenced in 2002, Anuradhapura, Moneragala, Jaffna and the Eastern province too have been included and supported as production locations. The cess of Re. 1. per kilo is charged on every kilo of coconut sold, (This is common to all crops in the plantation industry, with the quantum of levy varying according to the crop sold), but its relevance needs to be positively applied to improve the industry. If this does not happen, coconut growers would find it more speculative to sell their holdings for housing expansion which would be bad not only for the coconut industry, but would also have serious repercussions on the economy, particularly plantations bordering urban areas, he said. In the Coconut Triangle particularly rather than depend on rain, these plantations have introduced drip irrigation which have made a sharp difference on production, he said. |
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