Financial Times - Coconut lands over dependant on manual labour

The Coconut Growers’ Association (CGA), plans to request the government to hand over some 40,000 acres of coconut owned but poorly managed by state agencies, to the private sector to improve its yields.

Nimal Samarakkody, CGA President, told the recent AGM of the association that this land yielded only 1,500 nuts per acre per year.

“We will initiate discussions with the government and persuade the authorities to lease out portions of land under strict conditions to interested parties who will be able to increase the yield within an agreed period,” he said.

Samarakkody said that it’s an established fact that the income from coconuts, unlike in tea and rubber, has been deteriorating steadily in the recent past and if this trend continues, growers would either shift to another crop or neglect the land. He said among the activities of CGA to tackle these issues are: ensuring a minimum farm gate price; increase national yield to an average target of 4,000 nuts per acre per annum; facilitate the formation of a federation at national level; encourage semi-mechanization of the coconut growing sector; encourage the growing and processing of organic coconut and end products; extend regional associations to cover all the coconut growing areas and enhanced security for agricultural produce, livestock, assets on land including personnel.

He said the CGA has taken steps to urge the government to remove VAT on coconut oil and to encourage the processing of virgin oil and edible white copra.

Referring to the formation of a Federation, he said this will in the first instance, allow state organizations to have direct access to the actual needs and aspirations of the growers and in the second instance, make the growers aware of the work done by these state organizations. “This two-way communication will strengthen the hands of these organizations in their research work that will directly benefit the growers,” he said.

On semi-mechanization of the coconut growing sector, he said already some companies like Baurs and CIC have taken steps to offer services on contract basis to undertake some activities like picking, etc.“We will contact both local and foreign private and state sector rganizations to come up with proposals to reduce the over dependence on manual labour,” he said.