3,000 coconut farmers receive training and agricultural support from CCB and Nestlé

3,000 farmers and outgrowers in the Nestlé Coconut Plan received 150,000 kg of fertiliser and training on modern farming practices from the Coconut Cultivation Board (CCB) and Nestlé, at a recent event which marked the completion of the plan’s fourth year.

To help address unstable coconut supply over the last few years, caused largely by drought and crop disease, the Nestlé Coconut Plan is helping people grow more resilient coconut varieties, and providing them better access to new technologies, best practices, quality planting materials, and professional agronomical support, the company said in a media release.

“Coconut is central to Sri Lankan life and is one of our most important crops. It gives me great pleasure to note the strong positive impact of the Nestlé Coconut Plan at the end of its fourth year, and the good growth of the distributed plantlets so far, which are showing a 95 per cent success rate. The success of this programme is a testament to the strength of the public-private partnership between the CCB and Nestlé,” said Jayantha Wickramasinghe, CCB Chairman.

Started in 2016, the Nestlé Coconut Plan has provided 3,000 farming families 19,000 coconut plantlets of a special hybrid variety that is more resilient to adverse weather and crop disease. The first batch will mature in 2021. To increase supply, the plan supports people to grow coconut in their home gardens and in areas outside the traditional coconut triangle and has four model farms to help train and develop programme participants. It also encourages farmers to plant short- term vegetable cash crops (inter-cropping) to receive an alternative income until the coconut plantlets mature. As many coconut growers struggle without a steady supply of water for their crops, two of the model farms have been outfitted with a tube well and micro-irrigation system.

“Supporting the local coconut industry has been close to our hearts for almost 35 years. Today we contribute to more than 6,000 farmers’ livelihoods by buying the highest-quality Sri Lankan coconut for our Maggi Coconut Milk Powder. The Nestlé Coconut Plan, which supports another 3,000 farming families, is our latest endeavor to help support the industry,” said Fabrice Cavallin, Nestlé’s Managing Director.