5 - Coconut

Summary

The coconut palm, refered to as kalpavriksha is a versatile tree providing a variety of products to meet the diverse needs of mankind. Coconut is the most important crop cultivated in the North Malabar region. Millions of families depend on coconut, either directly or indirectly, for their livelihood. Each part of the crop is useful to human being in one way or other. Over the generations a wide range of ITKs have evolved for the cultivation and processing of coconut.

Coconut farmers traditionally followed certain beliefs and practices in selecting the mother palms, selection of seed nuts, and raising and selecting the seedlings.

Identification of Palms for Seeding Purpose

Trees that are high yielding, regular bearers, and producing medium sized nuts are identified as mother palms by the farmers.

Varieties/Ecotypes of Coconut

There are some ecotypes of tall coconut variety (West Coast Tall) with superior features available in the farmer's fields in North Malabar. For example, Annur thengu and Bedakam thengu, ecotypes prevalent in localities of Annur (Kannur District) and Bedakam (Kasaragod District) respectively, continue to be very popular among farmers as the source of seed nuts.

Mother Palm Selection

The farmers consider various characteristics to select mother palms. Typically they select high yielding (12–14 bunches) and regular bearing trees having age between 25–40 years, with umbrella shaped crown (35 to 40 well-oriented leaves) and not affected by pests and diseases.