Coconut growers thank Govt for subsidy
by Mohammed NAALIR
The Coconut Growers' Association of Sri Lanka has expressed its
gratitude to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Economic Development Minister
Basil Rajapaksa and Minister of Coconut Industries Jagath Pushpakumara
for granting a subsidy to boost the coconut industry and arrest the
shortage of coconuts in the future.
The President of the Coconut Growers' Association Anton Nishantha
Fernando told the Sunday Observer that the low harvest and the increased
demand for coconuts between November and December last year resulted in
the increase in coconut prices in the local market.
He said that the low fertiliser used in the past few years had
adversely affected the coconut production and led to the increase in
coconut prices.
"According to the Central Bank report issued in 2009, coconut farmers
had used 33,000 matric tons of fertiliser for their coconut estates in
2005. It had increased to 36,000 metric tons in 2006 but decreased to
17,000 metric tons in 2009," Fernando said.
He said that the Coconut Growers' Association of Sri Lanka had called
for a fertiliser subsidy during the previous regimes but no attention
was paid. However the present Government led by President Mahinda
Rajapaksa granted a fertiliser subsidy for coconut growers. Coconut
growers now receives a bag of 50 kilograms at the subsidised price of
Rs.1,000.
The Sri Lankans need 3,500 million coconuts annually for consumption
but 3,000 million coconuts are produced.
Fernando is confident that this target could be achieved in a few
years.
Immediate Past President of the Coconut Growers Association Parakrama
Jayatilake said that the felling of coconut trees had led to the
shortage of coconuts in the local market. But this was not the prime
reason for the increase in coconut prices.
He said that the blight affecting coconut cultivation in Kerala,
India could have spread to Sri Lanka.
We believe that diseases such as Mita and Weligama wilt which affect
coconut trees may have come from Kerala, Jayatilake said.
|