Coconut pluck at Mangalika Estate

Till he fell ill in October, my dad took care of Mangalika Estate in Chilaw. Then I handed the management to Bandara, my brother-in-law. I June, accompanied Bandara as he was supervising the pluck.

Coconuts are usually plucked once in two months. Some coordination is needed in advance. The pluckers have to be informed and then those who go around the estate collecting the plucked coconuts. Finally, the "mudalali" (or the wholesale buyer of the nuts) must also be informed so that he could send tractors and trucks to collect and transport the nuts to his business premises.

The pluckers come early. They have long bamboos with a sharp knife tied to the end. They can easily spot the bunches of mature coconuts which they expertly cut and allow to fall to the ground. It takes 5 pluckers about 4 hours to pluck the 20 acres, for which they are paid Rs. 5000/.

The collectors follow the pluckers, making small heaps of the plucked nuts making it easier to load the nuts to the tractor, which goes around the estate collecting the nuts. They are paid Rs. 500-800/ each for a day's work. These loads are brought to a central collection point, which is near the watcher's house. Watcher Chandrasena and family reside on the estate to look after it.


The tractor unloads the nuts near the watcher's house

The first heap of coconuts

Coconuts being counted and loaded to the truck for transportation. These men can tell good coconuts from the "puhu" or bad ones, but I felt that they were discarding too many good ones and got them to take another look at the discarded nuts. A a result, about 500 coconuts that had been discarded were loaded to the truck to be sold to the "mudalali".

Bandara can be seen at the extreme left, keeping a sharp eye on the counting

Bandara adding up the figures

The crop exceeded 6,000 nuts, probably the best for the year. But, the wholesale price of coconuts has fallen sharply and we can barely meet the running expenses of the estate. Mangalika Estate is a "non-profit" venture, run more as a hobby than for profit! I bought the land at dad's insistence so that he could enjoy what he's done most of his life--manage a coconut plantation. Now, I must decide what to do with the property.