Dip in coconut yield impacts copra production in Tirupur

COIMBATORE: A drastic drop in coconut yield has left drying yards producing copra in doldrums in Tirupur. Of the 2000-odd drying yards spread across Tamil Nadu, over 800 yards are located in Kangeyam in the district.

Currently, coconuts fetch a better price in the market, and there are almost no arrivals for copra production. Unlike the previous years, when workers were engaged in breaking coconuts to dry and remove copra from the shells, the yards now wear a barren look with hardly anyone in a functional state.

Because of defunct yards, around 15,000 workers from districts like Salem, Pudukottai, and Tiruvannamalai, as well as from Andhra Pradesh, are jobless. They used to come as a family for work. Also, almost 90 per cent of copra producers are struggling without any alternative source of livelihood.

Every year, coconut arrivals for copra production used to start in its peak season of March and stretch till August.

“After the process of drying, the copra is segregated for consumption and for crushing in oil mills. The edible copra is in demand in north Indian states like Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Calcutta,” said R Gopalakrishnan from Kangeyam Town.

Gopalakrishnan has been a first-generation copra producer since 2006. In all these years, he had encountered similar situations only a couple of times, when the coconut yield was hit due to a drought-like situation.

Even though the prices of coconuts are ruling high, the existing market value of copra does not fetch a remunerative profit for farmers. Currently, the premium range of copra is priced around Rs 175 and above in the market.

Until a year ago, copra prices were sold at their lowest of Rs 75, almost less than the minimum support price (MSP) fixed by the government.

“In my 30 years of service, coconut breaking did not take place in the yard, only this season. From around 1,400 coconut yards, they have reduced to just around 150 in the last five years. Many have switched over to other businesses,” said PKB Shanmugam, president of the Kangeyam Taluk Copra Association.

During the peak season, not less than 15 tonnes of coconuts would be broken in each yard for drying. Yield of coconuts has been hit by 50 per cent due to a multitude of factors, including root wilt disease, white fly menace and soaring temperature without adequate rains.

“Yield has stopped completely in five lakh coconut trees, and over one lakh trees were axed down due to infections. Prices of coconuts have never been so high before. Yet the price rise doesn’t fetch bigger profits due to a drop in its production,” PK Padmanaban, joint secretary of Tamil Nadu Coconut Producers Companies Consortium.

KEY POINTS

800 and more coconut drying yards in the doldrums in Tirupur

There’s a nil arrival of copra due to a shortage of coconut

15,000 workers have been left jobless

Rs 175 and above is the present selling price of copra

1,400 to 150 copra yards has been the decline registered in the last five years in the Kangeyam area

Coconut yield has also dropped drastically due to infestation

Oil mills have become defunct due to a lack of copra

20 tonnes of coconut oil were produced in each of the mills before, but that has dipped drasticall