85 villages selected to cultivate king coconut

The Ministry of Agriculture and Plantation Industries has selected 85 villages in Sri Lanka as king coconut cultivation model villages for export oriented.

50,000 king coconut saplings are to be planted in these 85 villages this year and Homagama Dampe village has been chosen as the first king coconut cultivation model village in Colombo district.

Accordingly, distribution of king coconut saplings to 100 farm families of Dhampe village took place today (27) at Dhampe Bodhiwardanarama. The program was organized by the Coconut Cultivation Board and the distribution of king coconut saplings was under the participation of Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry Mr.Mahinda Amaraweera, and Minister of Mass Media and Transport Dr. Bandhula Gunawardena.

Dampe village was named as a model village for king coconut cultivation and saplings were distributed to the farming families by the ministers. Dr. Madhavi Herath, Chairperson of the Coconut Cultivation Board and General Manager Athila Wijesinghe also participated in that event.

The Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry, Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera said that although there is a high international demand for king coconut in Sri Lanka, it has not been possible to supply them so far.

King coconut has not been cultivated as a plantation crop in our country. Many people grow king coconut in their backyards. King coconut is a native plant of our country. Many countries in the world have tried to grow king coconut but have not been successful. Therefore, we can export king coconut to the whole world. If king coconut cultivation is expanded, our country can recover from itself.

Currently, there is a high demand for our country’s king coconut in Dubai. On average, about 200 containers of king coconut are exported to the Dubai market every six months. The income we achieved from king coconut export last year was 06 billion rupees. The minister also said that in 2022, we will have an income of 02 billion rupees from export king coconut.

Dr. Bandhula Gunawardena, Minister of Mass Media and Transport, who expressed his opinion here.

During my tenure as the Trade Minister, I negotiated with foreign countries on many occasions for the export of king coconut. Today there is a great demand for our king coconut in the foreign market.

Today, Dampe village is the first king coconut cultivation model village in Colombo district. We have selected 850 families for king coconut cultivation. The Coconut Cultivation Board as well as our Minister of Agriculture acted immediately upon my suggestion and contributed to start king coconut cultivation.

I request the farmers to pay attention to the king coconut that is given today as well as how they should be grown. The minister also mentioned.

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