Coconut harvesters or slaves?

A Coconut

Despite its name, a coconut is actually a fruit

Coconut Palm Trees

There are several varieties of coconut palm trees that produce fruit. Although coconut trees are a kind of palm tree, not all palm trees are coconut trees. The ideal fruits for coconut milk are the ones with the most pulp, which come from from the tallest trees, making them difficult to harvest.

Where coconuts are harvested

Coconut trees thrive in the tropics between 23°N and 23°S

Thailand's leading farm and crop sites

Using monkeys

This led Thai farmers to train monkeys to fetch coconuts. In our example below, the monkeys are macaques

Monkey see, monkey do

Crab-eating or long-tailed macaques are native to Southeast Asia. They are fast learners and acquire their harvesting skills from observing their trainers.

Monkey-training Facilities

Reports on the ethics of how farmers treat these intelligent animals have raised concerns in the West, particularly in Britain where the prime minister’s fiancée weighed in on the "enslavement" of coconut-picking macaques.

How monkeys detach the fruit from branches

Work time

Nirun Wongwanit, who owns a coconut farm with 38 macaques, told the SCMP that monkeys work around six hours per day. The farmers say they share a close bond with their monkeys and argue training them to pick coconuts has been a way of life in southern Thailand for centuries.

A monkey can collect around 200 to 400 coconuts per day.

Coconut production, 2018

Thailand is one of the world's top ten coconut producers

Thailand's coconut production, 2000-2018

Production has dropped by almost half in the last two decades