Coconut is a highly nutritious product. Unlike many other fruits that are high in carbs, coconut provides mostly fat. They also contain protein, several important minerals, and small amounts of B vitamins.
According to the Coconut Development Authority (CDA), coconut cultivation in Sri Lanka is a little over one million hectares and Sri Lankans consume nearly 1,750- 2,000 million fresh nuts per year; the remaining harvest is used to produce a range of products from various parts of coconut. But currently, the population of Sri Lanka keep increasing. According to the central bank report, in 2010, the mid-year population in Sri Lanka was 20,675,000. By 2020, it has reached 21,919,000. (Central Bank, 2020). With the increase in population the production of coconut cannot meet the demand. There by this project aims at the strengthening of the coconut production in Sri Lanka. The AID E D foundation plans to cultivate 480,000 coconut trees per year and 4,800,000 trees at the end of 10 years.
Sri Lankan people consume more foreign goods. The nation buys wheat, sugar, milk powder and every other thing from abroad and with the Sri Lankan rupee down 7.3% this year, the import bill is soaring, stocking, inflation, and raising concerns about panic buying and hoarding. To maintain a positive trade balance, we need some export income too. When increasing imports and decreasing export, the trade balance will also be negative and will cause for the Dollar issue. Rupee value will be depreciated against Dollar. The project encourages the students to sell or consume their coconuts after 5 years and will address the dollar issue of the country as well.
Entrepreneurship is a key driver for any economy. Sri Lanka has a very low presence of entrepreneurs in the market numbering less than 1.5% of the population. If Sri Lanka is to move forward with an export-driven development agenda, grow the economy and compete at a global scale, then we need to focus on encouraging entrepreneurship. Fact developing entrepreneurship should be a national priority at a policy level. School children are considered as dependents. Thereby there will be no contribution from school children for the GDP. According to this project, students plant coconut trees, then manage them and at the end of the 5 years sell themselves. Therefore, they will practice earning money from their childhood. It will support a buildup of an entrepreneur and children’s’ contribution on GDP. But after completing this project, the children will contribute to the GDP of the country.
