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| Sunday, 30 November 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Better times ahead for Palmyrah Industry by Chanuka Mannapperuma "Palmyrah Tree", aptly called the "Tree of life", is contributing immensely for the uplift of deprived people by providing food shelter and as an income generating base. Economically this tree has the potential to become one of the most important plants in Sri Lanka.
The Tree of life has a lot of potential to be developed to the extent of exports. Unfortunately, this industry is still untapped. General Manager of Palmyrah Development Board (PDB), S. Kokulathasan said "Palmyrah sales has dropped dramatically during the last few years because peoples interest has deviated from products made out of palms to cane products. But sometime back, we had a good market for our products. He said: "None of the governments has given us the necessary support and finance to develop the industry, but we are seeking assistance to uplift the industry as this has much potential to grow and also provide employment and bring in the much needed foreign exchange to the country. "The peaceful atmosphere in the North and East has made it much more easy for us to promote the industry as we can even start planting new trees. During the last 20 years of war, 2.5 million trees were destroyed in the North and East to build bunkers. "At present, there are about 11 million palmyrah trees. According to the PDB, there are 3.5 million trees in Jaffna, 3.5 million in Kilinochchi, 3 million in Mannar and one million each in Trincomalee, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Hambantota, Puttalam, Batticaloa and Ampara. In each of the above mentioned areas, there are regional offices, which do not serve much of a purpose at the moment, said Kokulathasan. "This year we had a big handicraft order from abroad but we were unable to supply it because of financial problems. No one is volunteering to venture into this business as it involves a big initial capital," he added. "Our main export markets are European countries and America. But we can't earn a good profit margin because there are other products in the market. The palmyrah is an ancient palm belonging to the 'Palmae family'. The plant grows gracefully to a height of about 60 meters. Palmyrah has both male and female trees. The female plant is economically more valuable because of the usefulness of the fruit. It yields 300 fruits during each season. In Sri Lanka palmayra tree flowers bloom between November and December. Although high in moisture the fruit pulp contains a considerable percentage of protein, sugar, minerals, fibres and lipids and is free of amino acids. Every part of the tree can be used to make different products. Leaves: Baskets, Leaf base handicrafts,Mature leaves; animal feeds, fertilizer, roofing material, packing material. Dried leaves: Fencing and firewood. Stalk: handicrafts, tiering material, fencing material Sap: Toddy and sweet toddy. Fermented sap: Arrack, low wine, vinegar. Treacle: Jaggery, sugar, tobacco, molasses - palm wine. Fruits: Panattu, cordial, jam, sauce, shampoo, toothpaste, wine, brandy, bitter wine. Fruit seed: Toys, pooran, activated carbon, seed for plant production. Fibre: Toys, brushes, quilts. Timber: Roofing materials, toys, furniture, firewood, pots and vases. Tuber: Khool, pittu-oil cake, palm posha, palmyrah crunch. Root: Medicinal value Kokulathasan said: "There is a good local and export market for palmyrah arrack. Though there is a high demand we cannot produce it due to lack of finances. Of the total number of trees, only two percent has been tapped for toddy. The wholesale price of a bottle of arrack is Rs. 222 with a tax of Rs. 90 a bottle. Another valuable product of palmyrah is "Ethanol". It is fast becoming a bio-fuel supplementing auto fuel in developing countries. Ethanol is a fermented product of bio sources containing sucrose. Palmayra male palm could be exclusively tapped for ethanol. The female palms would provide about 150,000 tones of fruit pulp, which could also be converted to ethanol, in addition to other valuable products such as antibiotic compounds, pectin and edible fibre.Regarding future plans, he said, they were hoping to launch a palmyrah plantation project in Jaffna with cashew and coconut planted as subsidiary food crops with the assistance of funding agencies to make it a reality. |
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This is a multi-purpose tree, which contributes many products with high
potential for economic development.In the North and East of Sri Lanka,
many families depend on this palm for their livelihood.
