Measures to boost coconut cultivation

Ishara MUDUGAMUWA

The Coconut Development and Janatha Estate Development Ministry will explore means to achieve higher productivity and profitability in coconut cultivation, Coconut Development and Janatha Estate Development Minister Jagath Pushpakumara said.

"The ministry has paid attention for the restoration and maintenance of soil fertility of coconut lands, protecting highly productive coconut lands from fragmentation and other uses. It is also focussing its attention on replanting with high yielding cultivars with resistance to drought, pests and diseases, promoting inter-cropping and animal husbandry in coconut lands, infilling to maintain

optimum palm density in coconut lands and reducing senile plantations to a level of five percent by introducing accelerated replanting programmes," the minister said. He said around 56.42 percent of coconut land are confined to the coconut triangle encompassing Kurunegala, Puttalam and Gampaha districts.

The coconut industry in the Northern and Eastern provinces faced severe setbacks during the past three decades due to the war, the minister said.

According to statistics of the Strategic Enterprise Management Agency, the country's annual coconut production for the past 60 years varied between 1,821 to 3,096 million nuts.