THE European Union is financing the ‘Coconut Industry Development for the Caribbean’ project through the Geneva-based International Trade Centre (ITC). This project is aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of small-scale coconut farmers by identifying market opportunities, creating synergies between national and regional programmes, and improving access to advisory services for improved coconut production.
Stakeholders have welcomed this initiative for its potential to improve income and employment opportunities, food security, and the overall development of the Caribbean coconut sector.
The Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) has been contracted by the ITC to implement the project activities in nine CARIFORUM member countries. These countries are Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
CARDI said in a release that its scientists are presently in Guyana, and have been interacting with key stakeholders in the coconut industry in the conduction of activities in mapping and characterization of local coconut plantations; strengthening producer and processing groups; and developing appropriate technological packages for intercropping vegetables and fruits, and rearing cattle and small ruminants under coconut trees.
The scientists are also collecting relevant information at all links of the coconut industry value chain, and this information is to be stored within a database being developed at CARDI Headquarters in Trinidad. This database will benefit all coconut stakeholders at the national, regional and international levels.
Future activities in the four-year project will target policy directives, certified quality planting material, nursery development, good agricultural practices, integrated pest management, processing for value-addition, marketing, finance and business development, quality assurance, and risk mitigation. In the process, farmers, technicians, extension agents, processors, marketers, and other stakeholders will be trained in various coconut production and processing technologies.
It was announced only last week that coconut farmers across the coastland will benefit from government’s assistance in combating the red palm mite infestation of the palm plant. The issue has been a major setback for farmers, particularly those in the Pomeroon, and Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, told the media at a post-Cabinet briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency that a sum of $49M has been approved by the administration to tackle the problem.
He said that the sum will be expended on the purchase of chemicals, equipment, and safety gear for distribution to coconut farmers at a subsidised cost, to assist in combating the outbreak. He said that Agriculture Minister Noel Holder had informed Cabinet that farmers in the coconut industry, particularly in Regions 2 and 3, have been primarily affected by the red palm mite pest. He said, too, that technical teams have been deployed to those areas to assist farmers in confronting the problem.
The red palm mite pest, also known as the raoiella indica, was known to affect only plants in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and African countries. However, the pest was observed in the Caribbean islands in 2004.
Coconuts have been one of the major non-traditional agricultural products exported and sold locally for decades. In May this year, the Guyana Chronicle reported that coconut producers and agricultural organisations, as well as Agriculture Ministry officials, met to discuss the future of the industry.