Coconut producers dismayed by plans to import coconut oil

Coconut growers and producers this week expressed concern over plans by the Trade Ministry to import coconut oil, among several other items like sugar, dhal, chicken, condiments challis, onions, potatoes etc.

They said that that this idea if implemented would clearly affect the very attempts of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to produce and grow items locally and curtail imports.

Ranjith Dias, a veteran agriculturalist, coconut grower and a past president of the Coconut Growers Association of Sri Lanka (CGA), drawing attention to a news item that appeared in the Sunday Times issue last week on the proposal to import several items including coconut oil, told the Business Times that at a time of a scarcity of dollars, curtailing imports where possible and attempts to grow more locally is of paramount importance.

He said that whatever that can be grown locally should be encouraged while reducing imports of these items that can be sourced locally. To prevent such imports, Mr. Dias suggested that heavy duty barriers should be imposed. “While the state is hard-up for dollars it is not a wise idea to import to compete with the private sector, by reviving the now defunct ‘State Trading Corporation’,” he added.

He cautioned that new imports competing with the local producers would result in the crumbling of local industry and cultivation.

They are, he said vehemently opposed to plans to import coconut oil and kernel- based products, since that will affect the coconut industry drastically and that will also have a negative effect while the growers would suffer severely.

Several other local coconut growers that the Business Times spoke to also expressed similar views. They didn’t want to be named.

According to official records, annual coconut production for the last two decades has been between 2,500 million to 3,000 million nuts.

Although, the Coconut Cultivation Board and the relevant ministry have been involved in promoting the improvement of coconut cultivation by distributing coconut seedlings, production hasn’t seen an increase.

To ensure healthy food habits are maintained, the use of coconut oil should be encouraged at all times. Therefore, the Trade Ministry should take a note of this fact and ensure coconut and other items indicated in the proposal are not allowed to be imported and safeguard the local industry, Mr. Dias said.

He pointed out, “At this stage it is necessary to stand by the steps taken by President Gotabaya Rajapakse to ban the import of turmeric and as a result the farmers have taken necessary measures to produce local requirements of turmeric. In a similar way if the coconut growers are encouraged to improve their production capacity it will be possible to use coconut oil for all cooking purposes and manufacture of confectionary items etc.”