The price of coconuts will come down to the farm gate price of between Rs. 45-65 within the next two months due to the increase in crop yield as a result of the improvement in the weather, Coconut Cultivation Board Chairman Kapila Yakandawala said.
He said the price of a nut had gone up to around Rs. 75 due to the adverse weather that prevailed since mid last year. We expect the yield to improve with the favourable weather that is prevailing in the country.
“With the increase in nuts the country will have an adequate quantity for local consumption and exports which is a lucrative operation due to the high demand for coconut products overseas. There is a huge demand for coconut water,” Yakandawala said.
Fertiliser and water are two primary factors for higher yield in coconut plantation.
Droughts that plagued the country for a considerable time had a drastic impact on production that dropped to around 2400 million nuts last year from the annual average of 2600-2700 million nuts.
The yield this year is estimated to be around around 2600 million nuts which is an increase of around 200 million nuts from last year’s 2400 million nuts. A yield of around 240 million nuts per month from next month is expected due to the rains in the past month.
The industry recorded a 30 million shortfall in nuts during the past few months and according to the CCB the gap is expected to be bridged with the improvement in the yield.
‘We have launched a short and long term plan to boost coconut production and go for more exports,” the CCB chairman said.
Under the short term plan the CCB targets to increase the current yield of around 64 nuts to around 120 nuts per palm.
‘The potential of a palm is around 120 nuts and that requires adequate application of fertilizer and water. If we adopt the moisture conservation method we could go for the 120 nut target,” Yakandawala said.
The CCB has also introduced subsidy schemes for growers including the fertiliser subsidy scheme to boost production.
The long term plan comprises expanding cultivation in the Northern, Eastern, Hambantota and other potential areas. The ‘Gederata pol gewatten’ program of the CCB aims at promoting coconut cultivation in home gardens.
‘Around 80 percent of the households in the country could grow two palms and that is sufficient for a four member family. We have also looked at drought effect solutions such as promoting the plantation in wet zones such as Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Matara, Kalutara and Galle,” Yakandawala said.
The CCB targets to reach 50,000 acres of cultivation per annum as each year the plantation losses is around 20,000 acres which is a two percent drop from the total cultivation of around one million acres due to land fragmentation, drought, pest and diseases and aging of palms.
‘We have also planned to introduce new fertiliser application habits that is conducive to soil . Traditionally, we apply one type of fertiliser which is not proper. We need to have different types to meet the condition of the soil,” Yakandawala said.
The CCB hopes to open two soil testing laboratories end of this month.
-LF