Where have all the coconuts gone?

By Shirajiv SIRIMANE

History states that the first coconut tree was planted in Weligama and it's also ironic that a incurable Coconut wilt disease has come to light in this same area, threatening the existence of coconut plants in the area.

Minister of Coconut Development and Janata Estate Development, Jagath Pushpakumara said that this is something like AIDS or cancer for which there is no cure. "The only option is to fell the trees and destroy the leaves and other living organisms in the tree so that it won't spread to other areas," he said.

The Minister said that due to timely measures taken by the government they have been able to contain the spread of the disease outside the Southern Province.

He said that a three kilometre wide 88 kilometre length buffer zone has been put into place starting from Galle to Akuressa in a bid to hold the spread of the disease.

He also said that they are paying compensation for each tree that is being cut and are providing alternative measures so that people could earn a living. "We are trying to introduce cash crops and animal husbandry so that the people could earn a livelihood because of the loss in coconut cultivation.

"There are about seven hundred thousand smallholdings accounting for three hundred and twenty three thousand hectares. The average annual production of coconut is about two thousand nine hundred million nuts.

However, due to adverse weather conditions which prevailed in the year 2009, the annual production of coconuts was reduced to around two thousand, three hundred and sixteen million in 2010", the Minister said.

"Out of this a total of about two thousand million nuts are locally consumed. The per capita consumption of coconut is 109 nuts and this amounts to about 70 percent of the total production. Thus, only 584 million nuts are available for making other economic products such as coconut oil, desiccated coconut and other kernel products in 2010.

"My Ministry is currently implementing several programs to increase production to 3,500 million nuts in the next five years and up to 4,000 million nuts by 2020 to meet the total demand of the domestic and export sectors."

It is also planned to produce 28 million certified seedlings and distribute them among growers in the next few years to expand area of cultivation. To meet this challenge the performance of both smallholder and estate sectors have to be improved.

"Productivity of smallholdings is generally low compared to the estates.

This is because smallholders are unable to manage their plantations due to financial difficulties. Most of them are also not full time dependents on coconuts for their livelihoods.

"Due to this and many other reasons, coconut productivity has declined over the years.

The soil has been subjected to erosion and degradation and fertility is low. One of the major problems is in the low use of fertilisers.

"I have come to know that fertiliser use is adopted by only a few growers, about 8 - 10% due to high cost. My Ministry has been able to convince the government to grant a subsidy for fertilisers and from this year, all coconut growers can buy fertiliser at Rs. 1,200 per 50 kilogram bag."

"This fertiliser subsidy scheme is another landmark in the implementation of the Mahinda Chintana program under the direction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa referred to as 'Kapruk Diriya' fertilizer subsidy scheme.

"Under this subsidy scheme even growers with a few coconut trees can buy fertiliser. Although this subsidy for coconut will cost the government a tidy sum of around 2,300 million rupees, we are optimistic that fertiliser use will increase consequently with productivity in coconut lands. Our modest estimate is that fertiliser application alone will increas coconut production by 5% annually."

"Sri Lanka's coconut lands occupy about 20% of arable land of the country. These lands are situated within the best agro-ecological regions in the wet and intermediate zones.

Therefore these lands are located strategically for coconut production. No doubt, suitable land care systems should be implemented to sustain fertility of these lands. This will lead to improvement of land productivity, so important for smallholders to enhance their livelihoods.

Recently, the Coconut Research Institute has launched a soil fertility improvement program and it is expected soils will be continuously enriched with technologies that are being promoted by the institute. We are also working closely with the Agroforestry Centre in Kenya to develop agroforestry systems suitable for the improvement of productivity of the coconut land here.

Commenting on the international conference, he said that it also focused on the Weligama Coconut Leaf Wilt Disease that was first observed in 2007. Experts from 14 countries powered in their knowledge to find a solution for this problem during the event.

Chairman Coconut Research Institute, Prof. M. Gunasena said that they are yet to find the root cause for this disease which originates from a germ inside the tree.

"However we are confident that the buffer zone would be successful and it would help spread the disease to other areas."

He disclosed that they are now researching on hybrid coconuts which could withstand diseases of this nature and produce higher yields.

He said the problem is evident in 20,000 acres of coconut cultivation in the Southern province and they have identified and market 20,000 tress to be cut. "We have already disposed of 18,900 tress."

He said that India too is facing a similar disease and they too are felling down trees as there is no other solution than to control the spread to other areas.

M. Aroncon, Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Coconut Community said that Sri Lanka coconut based products has a high global demand that problem would not have any negative impact on Sri Lanka exports.