‘Weligama Wilt’ hits coconut plantations in South:

Export of desiccated coconut unaffected

Around 200,000 coconut trees have been uprooted due to the Weligama Wilt and we believe that there are around 150,000 affected palms in the Matara district, Director, Coconut Research Institute, Dr. H.A. Jayantha Gunathilaka told Sunday Observer Business.

He said blights such as coconut mite, coconut caterpillar, coconut nettle grubs and ‘Weligama Wilt’ have affected coconut cultivation. The blights have caused serious damage to coconut cultivations in Veherakele, Bangadeniya, Kotukola and Manuwangama in Chilaw and several areas in Kurunegala.

The symptoms of the infection are the browning and drying of leaves. The disease spreads from July to September each year.

A new hybrid coconut variety, Kola Kondira has been introduced to counter the effect of the blight. About 35,000 such trees have been planted.

After 17 years of painstaking research, the Coconut Research Institute has developed a biological control method by releasing laboratory-bred predatory mites in the field to reduce the damage caused by coconut mite.

Research has shown that the predatory mite could bring down the coconut mite numbers considerably. The technology of mass rearing of this predatory mite has been perfected and the release methods have been determined. However, no remedy has been found for the ‘Weligama Wilt’.

Around 2.8 billion to 3 billion nuts are produced each year of which 1.8 billion are consumed in the form of fresh nuts, around 200 million as processed products and the rest is exported.

The current value of coconut industry is around US$ 1.5 billion. The annul income from coconut exports is around US$ 558 million.

A Sri Lanka Exports Development Board official said blights have not affected to desiccated coconut (D/C) exports.

Sri Lanka has recorded a 148% increase during the first eight months of this year in desiccated coconut exports compared to the corresponding period in 2014.

Sri Lanka’s D/C exports are likely to have a bright future from a short and medium term market perspective due to the Philippines D/C production being affected by cyclones.

Philippines is the world’s largest exporter of D/C. Its main market is the US with which it has close political and economic ties. Last year the Philippines was seriously affected by a typhoon in which more than 30 million coconut trees were destroyed which affected D/C production to a great extent . Philippines was seriously affected by another Cyclone recently and it would have caused a considerable damage to the D/C industry.

Sri Lanka’s exports have shifted from the Middle East and Europe to USA.

Sri Lanka has been a major exporter to the global desiccated coconut market for many years. Desiccated coconut, a basic by-product of coconut with limited technological input has been a foreign exchange earner for the country for a long period.

There have been the usual ups and downs or changes in demand patterns for D/C over the years but the international market is certainly looking up for D/C exports. The prices obtainable for the product too are promising which augers well for foreign exchange earnings from this product.

After the Weligama Wilt was discovered in September 2007, the CRI engaged in a series of studies and research to find an effective way of treating the blight. Local scientists were sent to the Kaungulum Research Station, India and a workshop funded by FAO was held in Negombo last year. Coconut President, Growers Association of Sri Lanka, Lionel Fonseka said the mite attack on coconut palms will continue to have an adverse effect on the plantation if noproper measures are taken to stem the problem which has spread across the country.