A special programme has been launched by the Ministry of Agriculture to increase the annual production of coconuts by one billion nuts in the next three years to make the total production of coconuts five billion.

Speaking to the media yesterday (31 December 2023), Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries Mahinda Amaraweera said that a special programme had been launched to increase the local coconut production by the said number during the course of the next three years.

When contacted by The Daily Morning to inquire more about the matter, the Ministry’s Media Director Dharma Wanninayake said that it had been planned to increase the total coconut production in the country – which currently stands at 3.6 billion – to five billion by producing more than one billion coconuts additionally in the future.

“The country currently produces 3.6 billion coconuts, and 1.8 billion of them are consumed locally. There is a need for 600 million coconuts for industries. More than 250 million coconuts are destroyed by wild animals such as toque macaques, langurs, and giant squirrels. In order to cover this loss and achieve the required production, the harvest from each coconut tree should be increased by at least two coconuts,” he said.

The number of coconuts destroyed by those pests in the first six months of 2022 amounted to an estimated 92 million nuts, the Ministry said.

Meanwhile, noting that there are a number of institutions such as the Coconut Development Authority, the Coconut Development Board, and the Coconut Research Institute for the identical purpose of developing the coconut industry, the Agriculture and Plantation Industries Ministries recently stated that such institutions would be merged in the future.