TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: After its announcement a couple of days back on sale of coconut at subsidised rates the Goa State Horticulture Corporation Ltd (GSHCL) has begun selling coconuts at Rs 8, 10 and 12, respectively depending upon their size.
Coconut, a key ingredient of the Goan diet, has witnessed an unusual increase in price since December, 2013. While very small-sized coconuts are priced at 10 as against 6 last week, the bigger ones cost anywhere between 20 and 25. Seeing no respite, the Corporation has begun to sell coconut at affordable rates from Monday onwards.
Corporation Managing Director Orlando Rodrigues had told media that due to cold weather the size of the coconuts had increased so consequently prices too had gone up.
He told media that the corporation has begun to sell coconuts through its outlets.
The corporation has around 350 outlets in the state and those who are willing to sell the coconuts would be supplied with the nuts. A Karnataka based trader has agreed to distribute coconut at wholesale rate, he said.
Rodrigues said that Goa’s market supply is mostly met from Karnataka and any changes in the distribution in that state affects the supply in Goa’s markets.
“We were selling coconuts at our outlets in the past too but not in huge quantity,” he said. Sources say that so far nearly 4000 coconuts are been sold through various outlets.
The demand for the coconuts is more than the production of coconuts in Goa and coconuts are procured from the states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.
Further, Corporation has also observed that despite coconuts being available, there is scarcity of pluckers in the talukas of Bicholim, Sattari, Ponda and Canacona as a result of which the harvest gets delayed. Also coconut pluckers have hiked their rates per tree by almost 50 percent.
The Corporation had recently decided to tide over the scarcity of coconut pluckers in the State through an innovative step — by providing training, gadgets and assured employment to the youths opting for this vocation, who would be then made available for coconut plucking on demand.
