Small Scale Integrated Processing And Marketing Of Coconut Products
Over 70% of the coconut farms in Sri Lanka is in small allotments of less than 8 hectares. The bulk of the coconuts available for industrial use come from these small allotments in the form of small parcels of a few hundreds to a few thousand coconuts . Commensurate with this pattern of availability of raw material, a prolific number of small and medium scale enterprises engaged in processing and marketing of coconut products are found throughout the principal coconut growing areas. Several models of small scale enterprises engaged in integrated processing and marketing of coconut products are available. The vast majority of these enterprises are privately owned with typical owner/manager style of management. The domination of the processing and m arketing sectors by small/medium scale enterprises located in the coconut growing areas offers great logistical advantages and benefits, which in fact, gives Sri Lanka a comparative advantage in the sphere of processing and export of coconut products. The activities of these enterprises would also help to maintainstable and satisfactory farm gate prices and ensure satisfactory levels of income to small scale farmers throughout the country a factor vital for the sustenance, growth and development of the industry as a whole.