A person selling coconuts. Image for representation.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Extreme weather events since 2023 have caused a decline in coconut yields across Karnataka, resulting in unprecedented price rise for coconut and its products like copra, coconut oil and coconut shell charcoal.
On June 30, the price of ball copra at Tiptur APMC (Agriculture Produce Market Committee) in Tumakuru district touched Rs 31,606 per quintal. This is the highest price that the APMC, India’s largest market for ball copra, has recorded in the 77 years of its existence.
Last July, the price was between Rs 9,000 and Rs 9,500 a quintal.
Farmers and traders estimate that the quantity of copra entering the markets and the coconut harvest this year have fallen by around 50%. The horticulture department estimates a crop reduction of around 20%.
In 2022, Karnataka surpassed Tamil Nadu and Kerala to emerge as the country’s largest coconut producer.
Ironically, the same year, the state’s traditional coconut-growing belts were hit by heavy rainfall.
The resulting water stagnation impacted coconut plantations in low-lying areas.
This was followed by a drought in 2023, and soaring temperatures in 2024 and 2025.
“The climatic fluctuations have not allowed our trees to recover from stress,” says Shankara Murthy, a farmer from Tiptur. He is also the president of a coconut producers’ society comprising 79 members.
Copra production from his 3.5-acre farm has reduced from 20,000 nuts last year to 7,500 nuts this year.
It takes 10 to 12 months for the coconut to mature after the flower sets.
And farmers sell copra the following year. So, the period from flower to copra, in the form that is ready for the market, is around two years.
A senior officer at the Horticulture department offers another perspective.
With soaring temperatures, tender coconut prices had breached Rs 60 a piece last year.
As this worked out better than harvesting mature coconuts, many farmers supplied tender coconuts, and as a result, the mature coconut and copra production went down further. “Earlier, 30% of the total production would be supplied as tender coconuts. From last year, it increased to 50% of the total production,” he says.
Extreme weather
Drought and soaring temperatures have triggered outbreaks of whitefly, blackheaded caterpillar and rhinoceros beetle, says Govinda Gowda V, head, Konehally Krishi Vijnana Kendra (KVK), Tumakuru. This compounded the damage caused by the spread of stem bleeding and ganoderma wilt due to rainfall-induced water stagnation and unscientific management of the coconut farm.
Pests and diseases have affected the trees in about 30% of the traditional belt of Tumakuru, Mandya, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Chitradurga. These districts account for 76% of the area under coconut cultivation and contribute to about 68% of the total coconut production. Productivity in Tumakuru, India’s top coconut-producing district, has come down from 8,770 nuts a hectare 2021-22, to 7,198 nuts a hectare in 2022-23.
High temperatures have mainly impacted rainfed trees, which cover around 50% of the area under coconut cultivation in the state.
Pests and diseases have affected coconut plantations worldwide, affecting production. At the same time, the demand for coconut products is steadily increasing for edible and non-edible purposes. The demand in both domestic and international markets has directly impacted the prices,” says B Hanumanthe Gowda, chief coconut development officer at the Coconut Development Board, Kochi.
Traders in Tiptur also say that more millers from Tamil Nadu and Kerala are buying copra at Tiptur APMC. “They attribute this to a decline in production in their states. All these aspects have favoured the price rise. This could have benefited farmers had the yield been good,” says Jayesh Mehta, secretary of the traders association at Tiptur.