It’s been almost a year since the coconut market in Goa collapsed and the coconut farmers are left high and dry by the inability of the Goa Government to come up with any viable solution, which has surely not helped but on the contrary hope has been replaced by anxiety and disquiet. When I checked around, I was utterly shocked to know that a good number of coconut farmers (big and small) have not harvested their coconuts for the last six months as it is financially not viable for the farmers to continue harvesting their produce as labour charges have increased and the price of coconut has crashed.
Along with the labour cost, the prices of fertilisers, both organic and as well as chemical have skyrocketed.
The case of a coconut tree is very complex, it gives yield only if it is well fed and maintained, in other words if the tree does not get enriched soil, by natural or artificial means it will not give a good yield, like the saying in Konkani “mullak kaim ghalinam zalear tallak kainch einam”. Coconut farming today is an expensive business and with the crash in coconut prices, it will certainly be wiped out and let’s not forget that the coconut industry in Goa employs a huge workforce and the repercussions of this crash could affect the already diminishing economy.
On inquiring about this unfortunate and worrying situation in Goa with some Agents and Traders, I learnt that, this present ugly situation has erupted in Goa because of a huge influx of coconuts that have illegally been brought into Goa by freelance migrant agents from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. They have saturated the Goan market, with out-of-state coconuts and our Government is in a state of “Kumb’karn” sleep mode as far as Goa’s problems are concerned.
On my visits to several agents and traders I noticed heaps of coconuts in their yards not just in thousands but in lakhs. One agent in Cansaulim had over eight lakh coconuts in his yard, another in Raia and Navelim had over five lakhs. It’s really a pitiful sight as coconuts rot and some sprout. Sprouted coconuts are not a problem but who will be buying lakhs of coconuts saplings, in this present situation?
I remember as I grew up, how the older people use to plant coconut saplings everywhere they could find a place in their small or big pieces of land and that’s the reason why Goa today is one of the top states in the produce of coconuts. Even today I see people planting a few coconut trees around their newly built houses and bungalows but for how long will this be viable, if our Government continues its sepulchral silence and inaction to revive and revitalise this particular aspect and the Agricultural backbone of Goa’s economy?
In many ways and on many occasions our Government has shown a great deal of apathy towards Goan farmers and openly shown that it is incapable of taking any punitive action to help the ailing industry as a result, they are guilty at best of collective incompetence or at worst of collective duplicity, take your pick.
