REVIEW OF REPLANTING 
By P. D. L. FERNANDO 

{Planting Officer, Coconut Research Institute). 

T h e Rep lan t ing Pro jec t 
The Scheme for the supply of subsidised selected seedlings commenced in the financial year 

1948-49. This scheme was first financed from a special vote from the Department of Agriculture 
with the proceeds from the sale of seedlings reverting to revenue. Up to end of 195.4, the produc­
tion of seedlings depended on this fluctuating vote. At this period the Government approved 
the following 10 year Replanting Programme. 

T a b l e I ' 

10 Y e a r Rep lant ing P r o g r a m m e 

Total for 10 years 

Year Seedlings Acres 

1955 600,000 10,000 
1956 840,000 14,000 

*957 1,080,000 18,000 

1958 960,000 16,000 

1959 960,000 16,000 
i960 960,000 16,000 
1961 900,000 15.000 
1963 900,000 15,000 
1963 900,000 15,000 
1964 900,000 15,000 

9,000,000 150,000 

The above programme provides for the supply of planting material sufficient to replant on 
-n average 15,000 acres per annum. To put this programme of work into effect, the Ministry 
<f Agriculture and Food, approved a fixed annual vote of Rs. 500.000/- for 10 years The above 
irogramme provided for a replacement of the existing planted acreage at 1 5 per cent and 
or new planting of suitable lands at r per cent per annum. 

(The acreage of suitable lands for new planting was taken from the report of the Land Utilisa-
ion Commission). (See Table III). With the new Six Year Plan of Development coming into 
fleet, a further sum of Rs. 350,000/- per annum was approved to supply a sufficient quantity of 
'1 anting material for new planting as well. 

Work done.—Table II below gives the distribution of all the nurseries established, the 
timber of seednuts laid, the number of seedlings'raised and the expenditure incurred for each 
ear up to the end of 1956. 

46 



Nurseries 

Planting Division 

Table II 

Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year 

48-49 49-30 50-51 51-53 52-53 53-54 54-55 1956 

; I. 
" 3. 

. 3 
4* 
5-
6. 
7-

; 8. 
9. 

10. 
11. 
13. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
10. 
17. 
18. 

: 3 i . 

R a t h mat agar a 
Carmel 

,"*»St. A n n e ' s 
W a l p i t a 
L a b u d u w a 
H e t t i p o l a 
Papparaodai 
T h a r a k u n d u 
Pa lugaswewa 
B a n d i r i p p u w a 
K i f l inochch i 
K a l a w e w a 
D e m a t a w a l a 
W i l p o t h a 
W e n n a p p u w a 
K a r a w e d d a n a 
Bat t ica loa 
A lamp i l 
M y l a m b a v e l l y 
E ramin igo l l a 
Kogga la 

22,975 74.3O0 
25.000 32,200 

— 40,000 
— 35.900 
— 34.000 
— 3.750 

79.960 
31.704 
64,600 
52,727 
27.300 
42,800 

118,100 
51,100 
74.325 
25,000 
21,500 
45.000 

114,100 
41,100 
46,945 
58.450 
18,500. 
47.900 

145.880 
45.000 
31,800 
.60,000 
46,350 
40,000 

147,800 
29.500 
40,000 

118,400 
32,000 
83,000 

156,000 
30,000 
70,100 
85.350 
30,000 
60,000 

— — 10,000 — — — — — 
— — 15.000 —• 7 — — 
— — 30,000 40,000 16,000 — — — 
— — 6,425 — — — — — 
— — — 10,000 40,000 40,000 85,800 75.000 

— — — 52,000 29,000 72.500 00,000 90,000 

— — 75.450 56,750 120,100 120,999 124,122 

— — — — 131,350 169,370 200,000 200,000 

— — — — — 25,000 30,000 30.865 

— — — — — 140,950 I75.000 

— — — 10,000 11,000 

— — — — — — — 53,000 
'— — — — — — — 30,000 

— — — — • — 30,000 

— — — — — — . 63,100 

47.975 220,150 360,5x6. 512,375 600,095 776,000 1,136.450 1,312,437 

^Co-operative Societies 
1. Bolgoda 
2. Dungaha 
3. Hntugala 

*
' 4* Randalankawa 
, 5- Veyangoda 
I 6. Kurunegala 

Madampe 
§§• Gokarella 
p . Batticaloa 

Jg? Kattandiya 
Jx i . Mundel 

*. Madampe 
' Puttalam 

1,000 — 2.000 — — 10,000 — 35.000 — 20.000 
14.800 5.450 20,000 — . — 
14.700 — 18,000 — 15,000 
10,300 IO.OOO — —. 17,000 
8.750 24,000 16,196 — 12,000 

— 20,000 40,000 T — 
— 5.000 

16.000 
5,000 

15.000 

T z 
— 20,000 

15,000 
18,000 
20,000 

16,000 

— — 500 20,000 — 
— — 20,000 10,000 6,000 

20,000 30.OOO 30,500 — 

59,550 80,450 206,696 68,000 86.000 40.000 30,500 — 

47 



Department of Agriculture 
i . P a s y a l a 3,000 — — _ 
2. R ib i le 133.000 — — 
3. Ba t t i ca loa 7,000 65,000 10,000 10.000 15,000 15,000 
4. R a t n a p u r a 2,000 2,000 15,000 .—, 15,000 
5. W a r i y a p o l a 10.000 — — 15,000 

__ 
6. G a m p a h a — 7,500 — „ , 

7. H o r a n a — 5,000 
8. T a n g a l l e — 10,000 -

9. T r i n c o m a l e e — 250 4 000 
10. U v a — 

250 4 000 
— 4,000 

11. P o l o n n a r u w a 5,500 20,000 20,000 20 000 — 
160,500 109,750 40̂ 000 30,000 34.000 15,000 

O t h e r s 
G a l O y a D , B . 
P r i v a t e E s t a t e s 6.450 8,900 

14.500 
31,050 4.300 

38,500 
13,100 

18,500 , 
5,600 7.3io 2,500 

6,450 8,900 45.550 4.300 51,600 24,100 7,310 2,500 
T o t a l Seednuts 274.475 4*9**50 661,76a 614,675 771.695 855,100 1,174,260 1,314,937 

A p p r o x i m a t e N o . o f 
Seedl ings ( @ 60%) 164,000 252,000 397.000 369,000 463,000 513.000 70.500 79,000 

E x p e n d i t u r e : R s . 137,468 179,269 406,935 354.6ii 468,261 441,420 538.105 — 

T o e n d of 1956, a t o ta l o f 6,086,144 seednuts w e r e la id d o w n i n the nurser ies w h i c h were 
suff icient t o raise a p p r o x i m a t e l y 3,654,000 seedl ings fo r a rep lacement of abou t 60,860 acres. I n 
add i t i on to th is acreage i t w o u l d be reasonable to assume tha t at least ano the r 10 to 15,000 acres 
wou ld h a v e been rep lanted d u r i n g th is per iod b y estate owners w i t h seedlings p roduced i n the i r 
o w n nurser ies. 

T h e f i rs t N u r s e r y was establ ished a t R a t m a l a g a r a E s t a t e , Madampe , in M a r c h 1949 a n d the 
n u m b e r o f nurseries was g r a d u a l l y expanded f r o m y e a r t o y e a r t o c o v e r p rac t i ca l l y a l l coconut 
g row ing areas. I n the f irst y e a r of o u r ac t iv i t ies , n a m e l y 1948/1949, a special v o t e of R s . 20,000/* 
w a s g i v e n b y the Commiss ioner o f Co-opera t i ve D e v e l o p m e n t fo r the purpose of establ ishing 
nurser ies for some of the a p p r o v e d Coconu t P roduce rs Co-opera t i ve Sales Societies. I n the same 
yea r , nurser ies were establ ished for 6 Societ ies and al l t he 13 Societ ies par t i c ipa ted in th is Scheme. 
W h e n th is vo te was exhaus ted , t h e nurser ies establ ished fo r these Societ ies we re t a k e n o v e r b y 
the P l a n t i n g D i v i s i o n . 

T o s u p p l y the requ i rements o f the R e v e n u e Off icers, t h e D e p a r t m e n t of A g r i c u l t u r e m a i n ­
ta ined a n u m b e r of nurser ies unde r the superv is ion of the D i v i s i ona l A g r i c u l t u r a l Off icers i n 
dif ferent d is t r ic ts for w h i c h selected seednuts we re suppl ied b y us. I n 1951, a n u r s e r y was 
establ ished fo r t h e G a l O y a D e v e l o p m e n t B o a r d t o s u p p l y p lan t ing ma te r ia l for the i r o w n 
deve lopment w o r k . A few orders for selected seednuts f r o m p r i v a t e estates w e r e also e x e c u t e d . 

48 



A t the request of the Assistant Government Agent, Mannar, 2 nurseries were opened in the 
M a n n a r D is t r i c t at Tharakundu and Pappamodai in 1951, but as the demand for seedlings f r o m 
th is a rea w a s extremely poor these nurseries WERE closed down. In the following year, we went 
f u r t he r north and established a nursery at Kilunochchi which proved a success. T h e require­
ments of the Eastern Province too, were M E T from the nursery established for the Batticaloa 
Co-operative Society at Chenkaladi, and also from the nursery maintained by the Divisional 
Agricultural Officer, Batticaloa. 

With the expansion of our own nurseries it was found that it would be more economical to 
t supply seedlings to Revenue Officers and Co-operative Societies from our own nurseries rather 
t h a n maintain these scattered small nurseries which were gradually reduced. 

The demand for seedlings up to Z952 was only fairly satisfactory and in Southern Province 
in particular, t he demand was very poor. Extensive propaganda and publicity had to be carried 
out in this Province to create a demand. However, with T H E reduction in the PRICE of seedlings 
t o V 3 0 cts. i n 1953 coupled with the improvement of the Copra Market, the demand for seedlings 
rose u p u n e x pectedly. From this time onwards, the demand for seedlings exceeded the available 
supply, the position remaining the same even up-to-date. We were not able to increase suffi­
ciently the seednuts supply programme to M E E T T H E ever increasing demand, as our programme of 
w o r k was based on the available vote which was not increased in proportion to the demand and 
hence our supply was limited. 

D I S T R I B U T I O N O F N U R S E R I E S 
When the n e w Ten Year Replanting Prograrnme was approved by the Ministry of Agricul­

ture and Food in 1954, it was decided to centralise T H E production of seedlings in 18 large nurseries 
with a view to have a more stricter supervision and to maintain efficiency with a lower overhead 
cost of production. 

Table III below gives the distribution of coconut areas in the Provinces and the situation 
of nurseries w h i c h are located centrally AS tar AS possible. 

T A B L E in 

Acreages under Coconuts Location of Nurseries 
District - • „ —— . 

Present New Areas* Existing Proposed 
N . W . P . 
Kurunegala . . 300,000 6,000 

Puttalam 45,000 — 

Chilaw , . 75,000 . — 

W . P . 

Colombo ,. 202,000 — 

r. Kurunegala 
2. Hettipola 
3. Dambadeniya 
4. Puttalam 
5. Bathuluoya 
6. Madampe 
7. Bandirippuwa 

8. Walpita 
9. Gampaha 

zo. Kalutara 

49 



Table III—Conid. 

District 

S.P. 
Galle 
Matara 
Hambaniota 
Sabrag, Prov. 
Kegalla 
N.C.P. & C P . 
Kalawewa 
N.P. 
KillinocJuJa 
E.P. 
Chenkaladi 
UvaProv. 
Bibile 

Acreages under Coconuts 

Pnstnt New Areas* 

33.000 — 
38,000 — 
32,000 — 

82.000 — 

34.000 — 

24,000 18,200 

22,000 11,000 

15,000 87,000 

Location of Nurseries 

Existing Proposed 

ix. Galle 
12. Koggala 

13. Tangalle 

14. Eraminigolla 

15. Kalawewa 

16. Kttlinochchi 

17. MylamhaveUy 

18. 
Wellawaya 

Total 934.000 128,200 18 nurseries 

'Vide Report Land Utilisation Commission —Government Sessional Paper 111 of 1953. 

The above nurseries were gradually expanded to meet the increasing demand and it is 
hoped that with the 2 million seednuts supply programme approved for 1957, it would be possible 
to meet the present demand. 

Nurseries in Dambadeniya and Gampaha areas could not be established as suitable lands 
were not available. However, additional lands were obtained at Kurunegala and Walpita to 
expand the existing nurseries. In addition to the above list of nurseries, a new nursery was 
established at Allampil in MuUativu to meet the requirements of new planting in this district, 
where a large acreage suitable for coconut planting has just been released. 

Arrangements are also being made to obtain a block of crown land at Telulla in Wellawaya 
District for a nursery to supply the requirements of new planting in Uva Province. 

60