A plan to cultivate 45,000 King Coconut trees in 86 Villages of the Island.

The Coconut Cultivation Board has taken steps to prepare a program for the expansion of king coconut cultivation in our country.

Accordingly, 86 villages have been selected suitable for king coconut cultivation in the island and it is special that these villages have been selected after examining the factors that lead to king coconut production.

A huge demand for king coconuts in our country has been developed in the international market at present and Sri Lanka has the monopoly on king coconuts in the international market. The reason for this is that the taste and quality of king coconut in our country is in a higher level.

Also, despite many countries have tried to cultivate king coconuts, they have not been able to achieve the quality of king coconut in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the demand for king coconut in our country is increasing day by day.

A discussion on promoting king coconut cultivation as a cultivation was held yesterday (05) under the chairmanship of the Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries, Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera. Officials of Coconut Cultivation Board and Coconut Development Authority as well as Coconut Research Institute also participated in the event.

Accordingly, 86 villages of the island were selected and it was decided to cultivate 45,000 king coconut trees in those villages. Although selected as villages in that way, the Minister has instructed that if someone wants to cultivate more acres of king coconuts in one village, steps should be taken to provide the necessary facilities for that.

King coconut seedlings and technical knowledge as well as advice will be provided free of charge under this.

Accordingly, 86 villages have been selected as 03 villages from Monaragala, 01 from Matara, 08 from Kurunegala, 09 from Kuliyapitiya, 08 from Kegalle, 09 from Gampaha, 10 from Kaluthara, 09 from Maravila, 04 from Rathnapura, 08 from Hambanthota, 02 from Anuradhapura, 02 from Trincomalee, 02 from Polonnaruwa, 02 from Ampara, 04 from Matale, 08 from Galle, 02 from Batticaloa, 03 from Jaffna, 04 from Kandy and Jaffna.

Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera, Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries who expressed his views in here said that due to the dry weather these days, the demand for king coconut in our country has also increased and the prices have also increased, so the farmers who cultivated king coconut have become rich these days.

However, farmers can gain a higher income by starting these cultivations by targeting exportation and he also advised to carry out new technological research to introduce king coconut water as a value-added product in the market.