Coconut growers reducing plantations

The coconut plantations in Saurashtra's coastal districts have come under a pest attack which has hit the quality of coconuts and the production has fallen 30 to 40 per cent in the last five years.

The farmers have started reducing the area under plantation for the last three years as they are not getting good prices for the coconuts because of its deteriorating quality.

The farmers who lost their coconut plantations in the 1998 cyclone, had started returning to coconut plantations from 2000 onwards.

However, soon after the coconut plantations resumed, the coconut trees were attacked by a pest known as mites which corrodes the trunks and the roots of the tree resulting into black spots in the fruits and the coconut water taste changes drastically. The farmers are not the getting prices they used to get before the pest attack.

B K Kikani, Vice Chancellor of Junagadh Agricultural University, said, "In the last five years mites has attacked the coconut plantations. Because of which the quality of coconuts has deteriorated tremendously, the fruits have black spots on them and the water from the fruit is no longer sweet. The fruits are smaller in size compared to the fruits from a healthy tree. The production has also decreased due to this."

Kikani also added that the Mite is a new pest in the state. "It is believed to have come from the plants from Kerala as many farmers have bought coconut seedlings from Kerala after the cyclone. The pest must have travelled on those plants."

Arjan Barad, a farmer from Badalpara village of Veraval taluka in Junagadh, said, "Many of the farmers have started destroying their coconut plantations in my village as well as other nearby villages located near the coast. There are only 15-17 per cent of the plantations left in his village. Prior to the cyclone, 70 per cent of the farmers in this regions used to plant coconuts in their farms. But most of the plantations were destroyed during the cyclone. Farmers started growing coconut trees again by the year 2000. However, soon, most of the plantations came under the Mites' attack."

He added that he, along with other farmers, witnessed a 30 to 40 per cent production loss in coconut production ever since the pest attack. Veraval, Chorwad, Mangrol and Madhavpur in Junagadh district and Jafrabad in Amreli district are famous for their coconut plantations.

Kalabhai Barad, another farmer with a large coconut plantation in the same village, said that he has reduced his plantation as the the coconuts do not bring prices anymore.

On the fall in prices Naranbhai Solanki, a coconut farmer and a trader in Veraval, said, "We used to get and still get Rs.4 to 6 per healthy coconut while for the fruits with black spots we get Only Rs. 2 to 3."

The mites problem can be solved if its done on a larger scale. "There is a solution to Mites problem but it should be done on a larger scale throughout the region simultaneously. Injections had to be given in the tree roots. But a single farmer's efforts will not be enough as his trees might get infected from his neighbour's trees. The government or the village panchayats will have to take the initiative," Kikani said.