By M Margaret Burke

AS THE Coconut Industry Development for the Caribbean (CIDC) Project prepares to enter its second phase later this year, emphasis is being placed on strengthening the production base of Coconut Value Chains through a series of training programmes.

The approach is to work on a few selected zones in three pilot countries – Jamaica, Guyana, and the Dominican Republic. In each zone within the pilot countries, there is a collaborative effort between Governmental and non-Governmental agencies to work with lead farmers and their associated second- ring farmers so that there can be extension knowledge and improved practices within the coconut communities across the country.

The first Coconut Festival was held in October 2016 at the Authur Chung Convention Centre. The idea was a collaboration between the Ministry of Business, Department of Tourism, and the Ministry of Agriculture, with support from the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI).

According to Raymond Trotz, the International Trade Centre (ICT) Country Co-ordinator, as part of the activities there was a two-day conference aimed at re-educating Guyanese about the diverse benefits of the coconut fruit focusing on its economic diversification and multipurpose use while heightening awareness and boosting the local Agro-tourism sector.

The first coconut festival held in-depth discussions on almost all aspects of the coconut industry and farming as a whole, including coconut intercropping. Farmers attending the training sessions were expected to learn much more and benefit as a result.

PILOT ZONES AND SELECTION
Trotz told the Pepperpot Magazine, “In Guyana, three pilot zones were selected, namely, Regions Two, Four, Five, as well as Region 10. Within each zone lead farmers were selected with assistance from NAREI’s Field Officers.”

He explained that selection was done by a field exercise of ranking farmers based on a set of criteria. Each candidate was ranked by a team of five persons drawn from NAREI’s field staff, community leaders, and the project’s administrators. From a total of 26 potential lead farmers, a list of 10 was drawn up based on their rankings. Three were selected from Region Two, five from Regions Four and Five, and two from Region 10.
During interviews, each potential candidate was offered a menu of training in five areas from which to select. These included crop husbandry practices for Coconuts and intercrops, Business Training, Value Adding & Food Safety practices and Marketing, he said.

BOTTLING COCONUT WATER
Trotz said that training is now being delivered in a schedule of sessions. Further, he said that in some instances the project administrators have asked their alliance members to include lead farmers in their schedule of training. The recent training in safe practices for bottling coconut water conducted by the Government Analyst-Food & Drug Department (GA-FDD), for instance, included participation by lead farmers from Mahaica and Victoria. He added that there should be a similar one upcoming by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) catering for both Coconut Oil and Water producers.
More recently, CARDI conducted field training in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Regions Two and Four, and IPED delivered Business Training at a lead farmer’s place in Mahaica.

Trotz informed the Pepperpot Magazine that the training which started on March 29, is for the benefit of lead and second ring farmers in Victoria with some participation from Buxton. A total of about 16 training sessions have been planned for over 100 lead and second-ring farmers in the three pilot zones over the next three months.
He explained that in all this, ITC and CARDI project administrators have been enlisting the help of several agencies in an Alliance for Action. This is part of the participatory approach designed to include both Private and Public Sector engagement in the rehabilitation of the industry.

The overall objective of this training initiative is to prepare the Production Base of Coconut Value Chains to ensure their stability for competitiveness, Trotz offered.(mercilinburke2017@gmail.com)