AGRICULTURE Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy is confident that, with the demand for coconut and coconut products increasing, good days are ahead for that industry.

Disclosing that Mexico is now on board to assist with the steady development of the coconut industry, Minister Ramsammy noted that the technical team from Mexico conducting a one-week intensive course in terms of production of coconut oil, coconut water, and the best varieties of coconut products would be visiting this country next month.

“We expect the course to be done sometime in September, and we are bringing all the stakeholders so that we can re-orient how they think and (organise) them like we have organised rice into a strong viable industry,” Dr Ramsammy said.

At a press conference held Saturday at the Guyana Rice Development Board’s (GRDB) Head Office in Kingston, Georgetown, Minister Ramsammy explained that coconut production utilises the most acreage of land after the sugar and rice industries — approximately 25,000 hectares.

It must be noted, however, that the hectares of land under coconut cultivation are old lands, and the trees are old; but work is ongoing to reinvigorate the plantations and bring new lands under coconut cultivation, he said.

VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS
The Agriculture Minister indicated that, at the initial phase of the industry, the main aim was to produce the traditional coconut oil; but of late, the Agriculture Ministry has shifted its attention to production of new products in the form of coconut water and coconut oil.

He added that the coconut industry has been attracting attention of the international market, and has received requests for supplies.

“We are capturing a lot of attention. We are getting a lot of requests for supplies, and this is where we are taking the industry,” Minister Ramsammy disclosed.

A coconut forum was planned for July of this year, but was postponed to August. This forum was not convened because of the addition of Mexico’s cooperation in developing the coconut industry. The Agriculture Ministry is awaiting the technical team from Mexico to conduct the one-week course for the development of other value added products.

Dr. Ramsammy stressed that Guyana’s coconuts can be utilised for all purposes – production of special varieties of coconut oil, besides other products. Moreover, the by-products from the coconut impact the environment immensely.

“You travel to Pomeroon and you see millions of shells becoming a travel hazard, and so we are developing the coconut industry in a manner that takes into consideration the environmental issues, just as we are doing with the rice industry,” he said.

Dr. Ramsammy said that an effort by the Agriculture Ministry was consequently made in the rice industry to engage the millers in the upgrading of their factories; that is, to make use of the paddy husk which, at one time, represented a waste.

The minister said the millers are now involved in converting the husk into energy for their own use; or, if large enough, for the national grid. With the waste product being used to create energy in the industry, another industry will give rise.

Minister Ramsammy noted, “The same is also being done for the coconut industry, in converting the coconut shell not only into gasification to produce energy for factories or water coconut factories, for example, but in producing other materials so that we can convert what used to be a waste into wealth. In one step, we can solve an environmental problem while creating another business line for people,” he said.

Guyana currently produces between 90 and 100 million coconuts per year, which approximates to some 70,000 tonnes of the product.