Did you know that monkeys are sometimes exploited to harvest coconuts?

Monkey free coconuts?

Did you know that monkeys are sometimes exploited to harvest coconuts?  Well, we didn’t  until we applied to the Vegan Society for the Vegan Trademark for our Vegan Vegetable Broth.  Our delicious broth, which is also gluten free, contains coconut oil.   You’ll be glad to hear that the coconuts used in our coconut oil are not harvested by monkeys.   But we wanted to find out more. Just how and why are monkeys being exploited for the harvest of coconuts? 

Since 2015 there has been a growing focus on the use of monkeys to collect coconuts. Why, since apparently, the practice has been going on for centuries in countries such as Thailand? Most likely because the rapid increase in the global use of coconut has escalated the problem. Over 10 billion coconuts are harvested to meet the trend for coconut water. Coconut is also being used to replace palm oil. Consumers and manufacturers have also become more aware of the impact that the world-wide demand for palm oil has had on the deforestation of the rainforest and destruction of the natural habitat of many endangered species such as the Asian elephant and the orangutan, to clear space for plantations.  

So why use monkeys to collect coconuts? The National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison states that a male monkey can collect an average of 1,600 coconuts per day and a female monkey around 600, while a human can only collect around 80 per day. What’s more, coconut palm trees can be up to 80ft tall, which is a long way up and dangerous for a human to climb, but not for a nimble monkey.

But the monkeys’ obvious ability to collect coconuts has inevitably led to their exploitation and mis-treatment to satisfy human demand. In particular, we’re talking about pig-tailed macaques in South East Asia.  These monkeys are chained by the neck and tethered to their handler. It is said that they are often taken from the wild and trained using punishment in ‘schools’ with dubious conditions. They are then forced to work collecting coconuts in conditions akin to slave labour. 

Since 2016, all Vegan Trademark holders are checked to make sure that the coconut they use is harvested by only humans or machines.  We’re proud to display this trademark on our Vegan Vegetable Broth. And you can be assured that no monkeys were exploited in the creation of our broth.