PANAJI
The Goa Horticulture Corporation will begin selling coconuts from Friday at Rs 45 a piece at its 1,250 outlets across the State to give solace to the people from soaring prices of the quintessential ingredient in Goan kitchens.
The Corporation's chairman and Mayem MLA, Premendra Shet said the first lot of 25,000 coconuts have already arrived and will be distributed and sold through its outlets from Friday.
For the first time the Corporation is importing coconuts and has planned to bring one lakh from Karnataka.
Shet said the first lot of 25,000 coconuts have been purchased from the neighbouring State at Rs 40 per piece.
He said, mobile grocery vans will be selling the coconuts at this subsidised rate until the end of the Ganesh Chathurti festival.
Explaining why the Corporation had to resort to importing coconuts from Karnataka, Shet said attempts were indeed made to source them locally but no Goan producers were able to supply the numbers that were needed.
"Coconut production in the State had dropped," he said.
The government has admitted to declining production of coconuts in Goa over the last three years citing reduced yields to the extent of nearly one crore less coconuts annually last year as compared to the production of 2022-23, ostensibly due to pest attacks and neglect of coconut groves by farmers.
