Source: www.nytimes.com
PETTAH, INDIA, November 16, 2009: As he approaches his first tree of the day, S. Mohan presses his calloused palms together and bows his head. “Oh God, I am climbing the coconut tree,” he whispers. “Protect me from harm.” One misstep and he would surely fall, as much as 100 feet to the ground.
India produces 15 billion coconuts a year, a tropical bonanza that feeds a billion-dollar industry. Just about every coconut is plucked by hand and every last bit of the tree and its fruit is put to use.
Plucking coconuts is a job that has been in Mr. Mohan’s family for generations. This was the ancient and seemingly immutable destiny of all sons of a handful of communities here of the Dalit, or untouchable, caste. “It is a risky job,” said Mr. Mohan’s wife, Girija. “Our people can choose now. Nobody would choose this work.”
And so Kerala, a relatively prosperous and well-governed state in southern India, is in the grips of an acute shortage of coconut pluckers that threatens to undermine one of its most important industries.
The coconut industry has grappled for years with the problem of how to get nuts from the distant crowns of the tall, slender trees. Kerala’s state government has responded to the crisis by sponsoring an international design competition that will pay $20,000 to develop three economically feasible coconut-picking machines.
See a slideshow at http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/11/17/world/20091118-INDIA_index.html