Chennai: Coconut prices hit roof

Chennai: Though residents of Chennai did not directly feel the impact of ‘Gaja’, the cascading effects of the storm is beginning to slowly trickle into the city markets, with sky-rocketing coconut prices.

Preliminary reports state that over 50,000 lakh coconut trees across Tiruvarur, Thnajavur and Pudukkottai districts were destroyed in the storm, resulting in markets across the state likely to experience a shortfall of around 100 crore coconuts.

Places like Peravurani, a town panchayat in Thanjavur district, has totally lost its glamour as thousands of acres of coconut groves were flattened. 

Likewise, places like Aranthangi, Manamelkudi, Jegathapattinam and other coastal villages in Pudukkottai district, also lost their coconut trees, thanks to the cyclone.

General secretary of Tamil Nadu Coconut Farmers' assocition, C.S Masilamani, said, "The damage on coconut trees would result in low production triggering price rise. Around 45 percent of coconut trees have been axed by the cyclone."

It would take at least six to seven years for a coconut tree to yield fruit, and under such conditions, the present scenario would have a lasting impact.