Climate change and wild animals also blamed

By Rathindra Kuruwita

A decrease in the fertiliser input has been one of the main reasons for a drop in the coconut harvest, Chairman of the Coconut Cultivation Board (CCB), Saman Dewage says,

“There was no fertiliser for about two years and now the price of fertiliser is very high,” he said.

Extreme weather events due to climate change also contributed to the decline in coconut production. “Pollination drops significantly when the temperature exceeds 30 degrees Celsius,” he said.

Dewage also said that a large number of coconuts are destroyed by wild animals such as monkeys and giant squirrels. Around 200 million nuts are destroyed each year by these animals, he said.

“You also need to replant coconuts to replace the old trees. According to our calculations cultivators need to replant about 10 percent of the trees each year. It has become hard to protect new plants because of porcupines, wild boars, and wild elephants. When coconut trees are young, we have to worry about red and black weevils. It has become difficult to control these pests because agricultural inputs are extremely expensive,” he said.

Dewage said Sri Lanka usually produces around three billion coconuts annually and it is highly unlikely that this number will be reached in 2025.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Coconut Development Authority (CDA), Shantha Ranathunga said that Sri Lanka earns about 700 million dollars from coconut exports annually. The export of coconuts have increased significantly over the years, he said.

“Compared to 2023, our exports have risen by about 21 percent. In 2023, we made about 700 million dollars, by the end of 2024, we expect to make 850 million dollars,” he said.

Director of the Coconut Research Institute (CRI) Dr. N. S. Aratchige said that the coconut tree is highly sensitive to the fluctuations of weather patterns. If the rainfall of a month is under 100 millimeters, it is considered a serious drought for coconut cultivation, she said. There is also no propagation if the temperature exceeds 33 degrees Celsius. “CRI has recommended several varieties and on average a cultivator has the potential to extract about 80 nuts per year. Some of our hybrid varieties, when managed under recommended conditions, yield about 130 nuts per year,” she said.

She said while the coconut cultivator can’t change weather, he or she can take steps to mitigate the drought. “We can address droughts by following techniques to retain moisture. We can reach the potential of extracting 80 to 130 nuts if we apply the right inputs and if we retain moisture in the soil.

“The world average is 5,000 nuts per hectare. We produce about 7,000 nuts per hectare. India has achieved high productivity in recent years and produces about 9,000 nuts per hectare on average. There are some states in India that extracts about 15,000 nuts per hectare. How have they done this? By using fertilizer and through irrigation systems. The Indian state provides huge subsidies for fertilizer and irrigation systems. For example, coconut farmers get free electricity if they use new irrigation methods. On the other hand, our input costs are high and we hardly use irrigation systems, we produce about 60 nuts per tree annually although we have the potential to produce 80 to 130 nuts per tree,” she said.

Aratchige also said that in most coconut producing countries the crop damage by mammalian species is low compared to Sri Lanka. However, the damage caused by the coconut mite and red and black weevils are the same as Sri Lanka, she said.