• Seeks a 154% increase in export earnings, driven by a new Northern Province cultivation triangle
• Aims to boost nat’l production to 4.2 b coconuts, helping to overcome recent shortfalls and diversify cultivation

Sri Lanka is looking to increase its coconut export revenues from last year’s $ 864.3 million to $ 2.2 billion by 2030, a 154% increase in earnings, Ceylon Chamber of Coconut Industry (CCCI) Chairperson Jayantha Samarakoon told The Daily Morning Business yesterday (25), speaking on the government’s initiative to establish a Northern province-based coconut cultivation triangle.

“We are looking to increase export earnings to $ 2.2 billion by 2030, to achieve this we would have to increase coconut production from the current average of three billion coconuts to 4.2 billion coconuts by then,” Samarakoon explained.

He further noted the high likelihood that Sri Lanka has crossed $ 1 billion in coconut export earnings between January-August, up from last year’s $ 864.3 million in yearly earnings, indicating an ongoing increase in yields.

Sri Lanka is currently in plans to invest Rs. 600 million, as allocated in the budget earlier this year, into the establishment of a coconut cultivation triangle in the Northern Province, spanning from Point Pedro (Jaffna), Kokkilai (Mulaitivu) and Chilawathurai (Mannar). The investment is to drive cultivation on 16,000 acres of land across the district.

“Around 60% of total coconut production comes from the Gampaha-Puttalam-Kurunegala triangle, with Kurunegala alone producing at least 40% of the total yearly production, and Kurunegala and Gampaha combined producing more than 65% of yearly production,” Samarakoon explained.

However, according to the estimates made, Samarakoon said that the Northern Province triangle, though lagging at present, has the potential to surpass the production of the Southern Province triangle across Matara-Hambantota-Monaragala.

“The Northern Province’s development of crops and cultivations has been behind the rest of the island, but with this investment we can expect to see a rise in production, which would also increase export earnings.”

Meanwhile, speaking to a government press gathering yesterday, Plantation and Community Infrastructure Minister Samantha Vidyarathna said: “This had been a district which was under a period of war and development was something that hardly trickled into these areas. There is land and a population keen on agriculture within the district, and the right climate factors for coconut cultivation.”

He further added that the government is to start with 16,000 acres in the North this year, both with smallholders and large scale cultivators who hold between 50-100 acres of cultivable land, by giving them the support and help to cultivations of their own.

“Another 16,000 acres will be cultivated next year, and another 8,000 acres in 2027, which would make a total of 50,000 acres of coconut cultivation land in the North by the end of 2027.”

Samarakoon noted that Sri Lanka’s total coconut production yielded lower than usual in 2024, with 2.75 billion nuts, whereas in 2021 and 2022, production yielded 3.8 billion and 3.35 billion nuts.

Sri Lanka’s coconut sector faced a yield reduction of over 700 million coconuts in total from 2021 to 2024, data from the Coconut Research Institute (CRI) publicised earlier this year showed. This was a 5.3% drop in expected production yields for the four years.

The CCCI stated during a press conference that projections for 2025 indicated a possible shortfall of 200 million coconuts between January-April.

Samarakoon noted during the press conference held in January that if targets were to continue to not be met, the government were to step in by importing coconuts for the time being.