The Coconut Triangle

The Coconut Triangle is the name given to the main coconut-growing area of Sri Lanka. An industry report by the Export Development Board describes the Western and North Western provinces as the coconut-intensive areas, known as the Coconut Triangle, and names Kurunegala, Puttalam and Gampaha as the three main producing districts.

A study from the Eastern University of Sri Lanka notes that every district grows coconut, and that the triangle of Kurunegala, Puttalam and Gampaha accounts for about 55% of the total area planted. The Export Development Board gives the total land under coconut as 409,244 hectares in 2017. Researchers at the Coconut Research Institute, writing in an FAO newsletter, place Puttalam and Kurunegala on the periphery of the main triangle, where droughts are frequent.

Coconut is known as the tree of life, a name used by researchers at the Coconut Research Institute. They describe it as one of the few crops domesticated in Sri Lanka and as the earliest plantation crop, systematically planted since the 8th century, in the era of King Agbo of the Anuradhapura kingdom. An FAO newsletter article by institute staff reports that coconut existed in Sri Lanka as far back as 101 to 77 BC.

The same article groups the coconut palms of Sri Lanka into three varieties: typica, nana and aurantiaca. The typica, or tall type, has been the most widely used. Coconut is part of the daily diet. The Export Development Board's 2012 report states that about two thirds of the nut crop is consumed within the country and the balance is exported as value-added products.

The Coconut Research Institute was founded in 1929 as the Coconut Research Scheme, under the Coconut Research Ordinance No. 29 of 1928. It set up its headquarters at Bandirippuwa Estate, Lunuwila, in the North Western Province, and began with three technical divisions: genetics, chemistry and soil chemistry. Its purpose was to give coconut growers technical information on cultivation.

After the Coconut Research Act No. 37 of 1950 the scheme was renamed the Coconut Research Institute of Ceylon. Under the Coconut Development Act No. 46 of 1971, the Coconut Research Board was set up in 1972 as the institute's board of management. Systematic collecting and conservation of coconut germplasm began around 1984, and drought tolerance became a priority in coconut breeding in the mid-1980s.

The Export Development Board lists desiccated coconut, virgin coconut oil and coconut water among the country's popular coconut exports. It also names bristle fibre, made by the local drum extraction method, and activated carbon made from coconut shells. Its 2012 report divides the products into an edible group, which includes nuts, coconut water, desiccated coconut, oil, cream and milk, and an industrial group, which includes activated carbon, coir products, brooms and brushes.

Three government institutions work with the industry. The Export Development Board describes the Coconut Development Authority, the Coconut Cultivation Board and the Coconut Research Institute as responsible for production and quality improvement, supply development and research respectively. The Eastern University study found that most growers in the triangle pick, gather and sell their nuts, while manufacturers and exporters carry out the later stages.