Rise in coconut prices met with mixed response
Posted on: 18/Jan/2018 11:45:48 AM
The price of coconut has been steadily increasing. One big coconut costs between Rs. 35 and Rs. 40 in the retail market.
A resident of Oragadam says that though they had cut down the consumption of coconut due to health reasons, they still used two coconuts a week.
According to experts, Last year’s drought has led to a drop in production, which has impacted the prices. There was a 33% decrease in yield in 2016 due to the drought when trees in districts including Coimbatore, Erode, Tiruppur, Karur, Namakkal and Salem were affected. The government had implemented various programmes to help farmers and hopefully things will get better this year. Tamil Nadu stands first in coconut production and second in productivity. Coconut is cultivated in an area of 4.65 lakh hectares.
Farmers are, however, happy with the increase. One farmer from Villupuram says, The increase in price has helped us since labour costs have gone up.
