'Halt partitioning of coconutland'

by W. Annesley Sumith Fernando

Cutting a Jak tree, on felling butter fruit trees is treated as a crime against the nation. It is a punishable offence. The cutting and the felling should be backed by a permit issued by the relevant government or the local authority.

Conversion of a fertile paddy land into a barren wasteland earns equal condemnation and an approval from the relevant State agencies is a prerequisite to engage in such activities. Similarly felling commercially valuable trees and transporting them by road ways require approval. But it might be through a quirk of destiny, no such authority, no such approval is required in respect of a coconut tree, the tree that never fails, which enjoys a close bond with people.

Felling of coconut trees is carried on with consummate ease, with no restraint and with no constraint. The irony of the matter is that felling of coconut trees is not a crime against the nation, a transgression of nature.

'Hiding the Ace, and playing the Joker' could be the reason for the sad state of affairs, which engulfs the coconut industry today. Mica epidemics and the ferocity of the weather gods are often quoted as reasons for the skyrocketing prices in coconut. But one could call it the height of duplicity exhibited by the powers that matter. But the undeniable reason is the partitioning of coconut land into plots of 10-15 perches in extent and selling them with least regard to the ensuing disastrous results. Fast buck, quick cash is the motive.

The Sinhala saying "Ballo Marala Hari Salli Hoyanawa" (come what may, spare not even a dog if it has a price on it) becomes true in case of the individuals and business entities engaged in this endeavour. Individuals who buy those partitioned plots rejoice as if they have won a fortune, quite unaware of the calamity they are causing.

Gampaha, Puttalam and Kurunegala districts form the Coconut Triangle within the boundaries of which a vibrant industry based on coconut flourished. Kalutara, Galle, Matara and Hambantota districts too had a good portion of fertile lands under coconut cultivation.

Sri Lanka produced enough nuts to meet the local demand and the excess was exported. Coconut enjoyed parity status with the other leading export crops, tea, and rubber. But today the position has deteriorated to such an extent that Sri Lanka may import coconuts in the near future.

Who is responsible for this sorry state of affairs? Is it the people who partitioned the coconut lands and put them on sale or those who grabbed them with no second thought? But the governments of different hues and colours who ruled the country stand accused for the lacklustre attitude shown towards a burning issue.

The writer had a coconut estate, 20 acres in extent in Madampe, close to Chilaw. In 1987 in order to surf over a financial crisis he had to sell the estate, intact at Rs. 60,000.00 per perch. The purchaser was a cultivator, who had wide experience and involvement in coconut plantation.

A perch, which fetched Rs. 60,000.00 in 1987 has sky rocketed to around Rs. 400,000.00 now. He had another estate in the same area and the auctioneers offered him Rs. 450,000.00 per perch; but the land remains still in his hand.

Could there be a specific reason for this strange phenomenon, which shot up the prices in leaps and bounds? The apparent reason is the generosity of the companies engaged in property development, tempered with fine doses of marketing.

These companies had to reserve a good portion of the land they purchased for re-selling for raids and other basic requirements, compelling them to jack up the price of the remaining portion to make good the sum invested in the original land. Further they have to recover projected profits and the cost of free cell-phones, and costly cars offered as incentives to would be purchasers of land. Eventually price of a perch of land is fixed at astronomical levels and partitioning land became a lucrative game to be played with consummate ease to reap windfall profits.

The marketing ploys of these companies are so adroitly adorned that they include 'title on payment of an advance', 'easy payment options', and 'bank loans'. Irresistible overtures which enchant the middle income earners, hunting for a plot of land to put up a shelter over their heads. But the rejoicing which came along with the title and ownership is short lived. When the reminders come, calling for payment of instalment and accrued interest from the lending banks the 'easy payments' really become unease.

The instalment and interest due on the 'easy payment option', so kindly worked out by the company and the bank starts to dangle before him, as a millstone month after month for ten to fifteen years. When reservations are made from his monthly income to meet unavoidable commitments the balance sum will be hardly sufficient to accommodate the so called' easy payment option'. No wonder he will end up with money lenders to tide over the urgent commitment.

Going for a sub-mortgage could not be ruled out. Then only will he realise the gravity of the blunder he made in going for plot of land at a fancy price, supported by an 'easy payment option'. Partitioning of coconut lands is still carried on without any restraint or restriction, and when the eyes of the authorities concerned are opened to this calamity the worst would have happened. It would be a case of closing the stable after the horse has bolted.

The sight of the caterpillars and other heavy machinery used to uproot the coconut trees, which stood majestically along the highways, evoke a sense of loss and suffering in hearts and minds of the travellers. They heaped curse upon curse on the greedy businessmen who had their eyes set on money and felt no qualms about slaughtering those majestic life-supporting trees. In the past the colonial masters plundered the lands of the people to further their business interests.

Today the so called white mannered Sri Lankans surpass the colonist of the past when they plunder and ruin the coconut estates in the name of property development. No wonder that the colonial masters of the yester year are no more with us, but their ghosts are roaming among us, sowing ruin and misery.

The business-minded property developers in fact are callous and cold blooded. Mercy they know not; religion is alien to them. They have one motive in common, which is amassing Wealh. They are in a race to be a millionaire today, and a billionaire tomorrow.

Their errands and undoings keep on growing as the law of the land is blind towards them. The law applicable to a Jak tree is not applicable to a coconut tree. No law stands in the way of a property developer, obstructing him from partitioning coconut lands in the country.

As a suggestion, may I propose that laws of the land should be redrawn and redrafted to include a clause prohibiting partitioning land in haste? Tomorrow may be too late. Procrastination and postponement of enacting the required legislation will lead to further deterioration. The partitioning of coconut lands acquired by the property developers should be banned immediately.

Partitioning of coconut lands into plots of 5 to 15 perched should be forbidden. Changes in title if any should cover the entire extent of the land, in acres and roods, not plots and pieces 5-15 perches.

Question might arise regarding the plight of an individual hunting for a plot of land to have a shelter over his head. The Government should intervene and encourage property developers to build high storey housing complexes in unfertile, abandoned lands. It would far exceed the so called kind heatedness of the money minded property developers.

Then, partitioning of fertile coconut lands will come to a halt; possible solution will be provided for the paucity of coconuts for the ordinary consumers; the intensity of the housing problems would be mitigated to a certain extent. The property developers should be compelled to go for multi storied housing complexes and begin cultivating coconuts in the fertile lands left over in their possession under strict Government supervision.

The Coconut Cultivation Board has set up plant nurseries throughout the country. In the recent past the Minister of Plantation Industries distributed 100,000 coconut plants freely. Steps have been taken to provide a number of relief measurers, including interest free bank loans. Usually coconut takes a lengthy period as long as ten years to grow, mature, and yield nuts.

New varieties of coconuts, yielding nuts in a short period have been introduced to cut down on the number of years. The Coconut Cultivation Board makes a valiant effort to up-lift the coconut industry through these measures. In the absence of effective laws to act as a deterrent against wanton destruction of fertile coconut lands, the interested, organised clans and culprits continue their misdeeds against fertile coconut lands without a qualm or a feeling of guilt, as a drunkard who rapes his own daughter.

Destruction of coconut lands would ring the death knell of a number of industries, which provide employment to a host of people especially in the rural areas. Coconut-oil mills, choir factories, distilleries and even the simple toddy-tapper would suffer and the problem of unemployment would raise its ugly head.

In the absence of coconut lands, economic setbacks await the country. Coconut will be an imported item, a luxury item. Coconut oil and vinegar, brooms and brushes, a housewife's staple necessities, would become imported items. Absence of coconut trees is an absence of free firewood for the village folk who will have a tough time in keeping their fires burning. the Coconut Triangle would become a triangle of brick and concrete.

Destruction of coconut lands would pose no problems for those who are familiar with luxuries in the form of mixed grills and mixed rice. But it's the poor who depend on pol-sambol and pol-thel who would feel the impact.

Tell me not that you were not pre-warned. It is the ordinary masses who will suffer if effective measures are not taken to address this issue. It is the ordinary workers, the labourers who will become the victims of inaction, even now at this stage.

Any government, irrespective of its colour, should be aware that it is those simple masses who enthroned them in the seats of power and therefore they are duty bound to serve them and save them.