GEORGE TOWN: Devotees will have to contend with smashing fewer coconuts on Thaipusam this year due to low harvest of the fruit.
Despite offering higher prices to plantations, suppliers could not meet the usual volume.
P. Saraswathi, who has been supplying coconuts for about 40 years, said she could only secure 20,000 fruits compared with 80,000 last year.
“Customers want a lot more, but I can only provide what I have, and they understand it is due to the low harvest.”
She said she received about 18,000 orders from the Arulmigu Balathandayuthabani temple at Jalan Kebun Bunga here and the rest from other temples and individuals.
Saraswathi said her coconut supply usually comes from Kuala Bernam and Pantai Remis in Perak.
She added that the low yield has led to a price hike, from RM1.60 per piece to RM2.20 this year.
“I think the unpredictable weather has reduced the harvest,” she said.
Another major supplier of coconuts in Penang, M. Joel Jeyachandaran, realised that the shortage will not only impact the festival but affect the upcoming Ramadan month and Hari Raya festivity.
“Every year, I request for about 70,000 coconuts for Thaipusam but this year we could only get 30,000.
“This is due to the adverse weather that brought unusual rainfalls,” he said, adding that coconut trees thrive under hot weather.
“During a good season, each tree could produce 200 coconuts per year.”
He hopes the current hot spell would be favourable towards coconut production.
As for the traditional milk pots or paal kudam for Thaipusam, sellers interviewed said sales had been brisk.
S. Pathamanaben said his stock of paal kudam – some 5,000 of various sizes imported from India – is already about 70% sold out.
His shop, he said, sells two types of milk pots – the hand-carried one and another that devotees place on their heads.
“They cost from RM9 to RM40,” he said, adding that he expects the items to be snapped up before Thaipusam.
Devotee Asvattha Tan Gaik Teng, 47, said carrying a milk pot is an important ritual of Thaipusam.
“This year, eight of my family members will carry milk pots from our house in George Town to the temple.”
She added that it has been a tradition for her family to observe the practice in the past 20 years.
Thaipusam is observed tomorrow, while the procession of devotees and chariots in many parts of Malaysia starts today.
