Not enough tender coconuts to fulfill the demand

Team Udayavani, Apr 6, 2019, 5:03 PM IST

Kundapur: Due to the increasing heat of the summer, most of the people are attracted towards the sweet relief provided by a tender coconut and everywhere, the business of tender coconut is running at its peak. Yet, even though there is a good demand for tender coconuts in rural as well as urban areas, the supply is failing to meet the demand.

On one hand, there is much demand for tender coconut water at the campaigns’, meeting, conventions and rallies of political parties in the backdrop of Lok Sabha elections,  on the other hand, people exhausted by the summer heat are also going in search of the sweet relief of a tender coconut.

If a merchant in the city area is selling around 150-200 tender coconuts per day, those in the rural areas are selling a good 50-60 tender coconuts per day. At some places, these numbers may increase or decrease.

Not enough supply

There is a great demand for tender coconut water. But the supply of tender coconuts for Kundapur comes from various locations including Shimoga, Shikaripura, Hassan, Chikmagalur and Birur. They are supplying the tender coconuts once in a week or once in three days.

But there are instances where the stock runs empty within a day. Sometimes, even if there is a fall in the demand, on most of the days the demand is definitely there. But we are not being supplied with the required amount of tender coconuts, opinion tender coconut merchants.

The reason

Though there is enough demand for tender coconuts from everywhere, there are many reasons for the lack of supply to the demand. Chiefly, because of the lack of water, the yields have dropped. The coconut trees are being affected by a variety of diseases because of which they are dying off. Moreover, due to the trouble caused by monkey, the little available yield also slips from hands of the cultivators.

Supply is not enough

“Almost 50-60 tender coconuts are sold in Ajri. Sometimes, these numbers may rise or fall. But on most days, there is a good sale. But the supply is not enough. They come once in 15 days from Shimoga. The amount of tender coconuts that they are supplying is not enough,” informs Chandrashekhar Shetty Ajri, Tender Coconut Merchant

Not enough tree climbers

“Even though the amount of water within the tender coconut from the village is less, there is a lack of people required to pluck the fruit from the tree. Even when found, they charge Rs 50 per tree. In that, if the plucked fruit is good then fine, if not, it’s a total loss. Thus tree climbers have become expensive. Though there is a greater demand for tender coconuts from the village in comparison to the fruit from outside, there are no people to pluck it from the tree,” explains Dharmaraya Shenoy Argodu, Kamalashile, Cultivator