Coconut scarcity in land of coconuts

The current situation is that if Malayalis want to get coconuts in the land of coconuts, they should come in lorries from Tamil Nadu. The price of a good, big coconut has gone up to fifty rupees. When people buy a coconut at that price and crack it open, sometimes it is rotten. "It comes from Tamil Nadu, we can't drill the coconut and check," the shopkeeper will reply to the complaining customer. According to the principles of economics, when demand increases, production should also increase. However, as the prices of coconuts and coconut oil are soaring, coconut production in Kerala is plummeting. The price of coconut oil is expected to cross five hundred by the time of Onam.

Coconut sales were one of the biggest sources of income for Malayalis in the old days. Many households used to take advance money from coconut traders to meet household needs and unexpected expenses. Back then, land was bunded and fertilised at least twice a year for coconut trees. Now, the number of households with large plots of land has decreased. With the increase in wages and the price of coconuts dropping very low, bunding and fertilising almost completely disappeared. The fee for climbing a coconut tree is one hundred rupees in cities. Sometimes, coconuts worth that much are not necessarily available from a coconut tree. One has to call an other state worker to climb a coconut tree.

Coconut trees used to grow easily in coastal areas in Kerala, where other trees did not grow. Today, all these are dwindling and disappearing. Apart from social and economic reasons, due to beetle infestation and bud rot, no one is showing interest in coconut farming. However, when coconut cultivation in Kerala decreased, it increased in Tamil Nadu, which was close to Kerala and where there was suitable soil for coconut cultivation. In addition to the coconut sold in Kerala, the majority of the more expensive tender coconut also comes from Tamil Nadu. The family budget of ordinary Malayalis will be disrupted if the price of coconut rises like this and the price of coconut oil skyrockets. Institutions related to the agriculture department, including KeraFed, should try to find opportunities, including imports, to keep the price of coconuts down.

A kilo of coconut oil was priced at Rs 180 and coconut at Rs 32 in July last year, but now the price of coconut oil has increased to Rs 430-470 and coconut at Rs 78-85. Both of these are used daily in the kitchens of Malayalis. Projects worth crores are being implemented for coconut farming in Kerala, which is suffering the brunt of the price hike in coconut and coconut products. Coconut research institutes are also functioning under the supervision of the state and central governments. The salaries of the officials working here are in lakhs. Research is also needed on what benefit coconut farmers have received from all this. People expect the government to take immediate steps to control the prices of coconut oil and coconut. It is expected that the Agriculture Department and the Civil Supplies Department will take steps for this. Since coconut oil is so expensive, there is a possibility that adulterated coconut oil will reach the market. The authorities should be vigilant against this also.