A tender coconut in Bangalore this summer could be priced as high as Rs20 a pod, as suppliers pin their hopes on Kerala to meet the growing demand in the city.
A tender coconut in Bangalore this summer could be priced as high as Rs20 a pod, as suppliers pin their hopes on Kerala to meet the growing demand in the city.
Suppliers in the five districts that send coconuts to Bangalore have observed that the demand this summer was three-fold more than the past three years. A few suppliers have contacted growers in Kerala to meet the demand. With the supply points (Kasargod and Kannur) being over 500 km away, the pinkish-yellow tender coconuts from Kerala called Kendali, might flood the city markets at a premier price tag of Rs20 a pod.
“There are 11 sub-suppliers who supply tender coconuts to the city; they bring ‘yelneer’ from Ramnagar, Mandya, Tumkur, Tiptur, Hassan and Chickaballapur districts. In 2010, during February and April, the city had a demand for 8 lakh tender coconuts per day. This could go up to 10 lakh during March-May this year,” said Nanjundaswamy from Tumkur, one of the three main suppliers of tender coconuts to Bangalore.
Mahadevappa, a coconut-grower in Ramanagar, said that the coconut-growing districts had enough trees, but could not support the yield. “The trees, from which the tender coconuts are harvested, do not have long life. They last for 12-15 years while the ones that yield hard coconuts live a natural life of over 25 years. The trees get their first yield only after 3-4 years of planting. Every year, nearly 10%-12% trees go out of production cycle and the replenishment is to the extent of 8%-10% which results in short supply of tender coconuts during summer,” said Mahadevappa, the progressive farmer who gave the idea of marketing tender coconut in tetra packs to the Coconut Development Board in 2004.
“Though Bangalore has not experienced any short supply so far, we foresee it in the future. The increase in demand also pushes up the price from Rs14 to Rs16 and in some posh parts of the city the prices may go up to Rs20,” said Rudresh, a coconut vendor near BDA flyover in Indiranagar.
Hanumanthappam, another vendor and supplier on the Old Airport-Whitefield stretch said this year over 300 vendors had joined the business.
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