Almost everyone knows the Cocos nucifera, the coconut tree provides everyone with tender coconut water, grated coconut for the curry, vegetables and sweet meats, coconut milk, and oil; besides fibre for mattresses and ropes; long trunks for instant bridges over nallahs plus rafters and thatch for shacks and huts. The years 2016 and 2017 in Goa were watershed years for the coconut tree with the whole state in upheaval to protect the tree and green cover. Activists, cartoonists, musicians and lyricists sang ‘Coconut tree is not grass’ and it became the State Tree of Goa. World Coconut Day will be observed since 2009 on September 2. It was established by the Asian and Pacific Coconut community which is an intergovernmental organisation of coconut producing countries to recognize the importance of coconut. It is celebrated by the farmers of coconut producing countries like India, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Kenya and Vietnam and the stakeholders in the coconut growing business.
In Goa, the area under coconut cultivation is 25,750 hectares and production is 128.15 million nuts per year. Goa has three main cultivars of coconut, known by the name of the village where they were originally grown. South Goa has the Benaulim variety. There are five variants, with green or yellow nuts which may be round or elongated and an elongated red husk type. Calangute is the second most popular variety in Goa. Its cultivation is fading because of low productivity.
The business in the state is quite robust though the situation on the ground is quite concerning. Prashant Hegde, a wholesale retailer in the business says the production of coconuts in the state had reduced. This was in comparison to the numbers in the past due to a scarcity of trees, impact of mite disease and the increase in the cost of labour. Prashant says, “Now we have government registered pluckers. They, however, are not available at the scheduled time that you want. If I want one, they have to be called a week in advance. We have been in the business for over forty years. Earlier, my father was in the business. We have agents who buy from us and sell it in other states.” A big problem was the rising temperatures and humidity which create a breeding ground for mites. These mites spread diseases that diminish the coconut quality and size, and this vicious cycle further amplifies the mite problem, leaving trees weakened and less productive.
Another farmer who is involved in growing coconuts in the state is Miguel Braganza. The problem of getting a coconut pluckers was now being solved on the phone. Boys were being trained through the Goa Horticulture Corporation, the Agriculture Department along with the Coconut Development Board was helping. In addition, they were also being trained in using the mechanical device which was now being manufactured in Goa by two entrepreneurs. The problem in finding coconut pluckers would reduce in a couple of years. He says the other issue was that most of the tender coconuts came from outside the state including Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
In Goa, he says it is felt that if one plucked tender coconuts then the yield would be less which he emphasized was entirely false. Miguel says people had to be encouraged to grow tender coconuts because that was where the market was. “It is possible to sell these tender coconuts for anything between Rs 30-50 per nut. Coconuts, on the other hand, were selling for Rs 15-20 per nut in the wholesale market. With the coconut feni being revived it would need more toddy. Toddy tapping is slowly rising again. Earlier, toddy tapping which was with the Toddy Tapping Association was based on caste but now that had been broken. Toddy production was bound to increase which would be great for the coconut business. Then, the revival of the traditional coconut jaggery was good. The business had reduced due to the non-availability of the unfermented niro. Efforts were now being made to increase the production of niro. A new ice cold collection pot for niro has been developed by ICAR and is now being used in Goa also,” says Miguel. He felt that coconut production would increase in the future and the way forward was the tender coconut which had a ready market. The tourism business in the State and with people staying away from aerated drinks guarantee business.
Dilip Kalangutkar of Nadora is doing his best to revive the cultivation of the coconut variety named after his village and popular on the little island in the river Chapora, often under water during Amavas before Ganesh Chaturthi, due to poor management of the Tillari Dam during monsoons. The unopened spathes are used for toddy tapping, especially in newly bearing coconut trees.
Shweta Gaonkar is an inspirational toddy tapper and Deirdre Aquino is marketing fresh toddy as a welcome drink. The sur is the original source of feni in Goa and arrack in Sri Lanka. Immature nuts (zodd narll), are traditionally sliced into slivers and dipped in a sugar syrup to make a sweet called as gonns, or grated to make letria (or Fios do ovos, in Portuguese) with egg yolk whipped stiff in sugar syrup. Mature coconut kernels have hundreds of uses, both fresh and dried. The liquid endosperm is a sponge-like delicacy known as murundd or coconut apple.
Suryakant Gaonkar from Keri-Sattari, has taught the art of creating decorative braided coconut fronds or morllam to many youngsters across Goa. He has trained the trainee teachers at Nirmala Institute of Education, Panjim, who will hopefully teach the students in the primary, secondary and higher secondary schools across Goa where they will be employed. When the children know the coconut palm and its uses, it has an assured future.
Germinated coconuts are now grown in large polybags to do away with the need to uproot the seedlings for transplanting. This makes the maintenance, transportation and transplanting easy. Pick a seedling on this Statehood Day and grow this stately tree at home.
Goa has three main cultivars of coconut, known by the name of the village where they were originally grown. Among these five variations, the DBSKKV-Dapoli has identified the green round coconut Benaulim coconut tree as the best in terms of kernel, copra and oil yield per tree per year. Dwarf Malayan and Chowghat (Kerala) varieties are grown mostly as ornamental palms because of their green, yellow, orange or red nuts.
The Coconut tree is an integral part of Goa’s landscape and one will hope it stays like that forever.