Climate-Smart agriculture, intercropping to enhance coconut industry
Country representative of CARDI, Jhaman Kundun
Country representative of CARDI, Jhaman Kundun

Over the next four years, the Alliances for Coconut Industry Development, Expansion and Enhanced Support for the Caribbean, will be leading initiatives to enhance nurseries, intercropping (open field and climate-smart agriculture), pest management, tissue culture and waste management, to transform Guyana’s coconut industry.
This will be done in collaboration with the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) and the International Trade Centre (ITC).
Country representative for CARDI, Jhaman Kundun, told this publication that a pilot project was launched to diversify the income generation streams for coconut farmers and make coconut cultivation in Guyana profitable. This activity is being funded under Phase II of the European Union (EU)/CARIFORUM, Alliances for Coconut Industry Development, Expansion and Enhanced Support for the Caribbean project, jointly implemented by CARDI and ITC.
Kundun said CARDI Guyana has overseen the construction of two climate-smart shade houses, each being 2,000 feet, located on private holdings in Dalgin, Soesdyke-Linden Highway and Mahaica, East Coast Demerara.

Farmer, Mr. Ganesh at Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, plants a broccoli seedling in his shade house (CARDI photo)

He explained that both shade houses were outfitted with gravity flow drip irrigation system, noting that the shade house at Mahaica focused on raise bed technology while the one in Dalign, focused on soil amelioration.
“The sandy soil is highly leached where nutrients and moisture rapidly pass through the soil profile, leaving the crop to be severely stressed and result in poor yields. Activated biochar serves as a sponge within the sandy soil, thereby, trapping nutrients and moisture and making them available to plant roots, hence, a productive crop. “These shade houses will be dedicated to demonstrating alternative intercropping options for coconut farmers, as a means of both diversifying their operations and multiplying their income stream,” he said. CARDI, he explained, has also partnered with the National Agricultural and Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) in Guyana to provide technical support to the farmers. In February this year, the first cycle of bell peppers completed harvest, totalling a production of 1,053 pounds.
“Mr. Adams’ farm where the bell peppers were grown is excited and happy for the initiative and thanked the EU for funding this project. The second shade house crop at Mahaica cultivated with Broccoli will be ready to harvest soon. Mr. Ganesh’s farm where the Broccolis are grown is also moved by this initiative and can see the impact the shade house will have on his livelihood. Both farmers expressed thanks to CARDI, ITC and NAREI for the technical support during the project and committed to further expand this initiative,” Kundun said.

Bell Peppers grown at Dalgin, Linden Highway on the Adams’ Farm (CARDI photo)

By using the ‘Alliance for Action’ (A4A) approach, Kundun said these shade houses will be used as demonstration sites, where secondary farmers in the communities can learn best practices and gain new knowledge on commercial intercropping of coconuts with cash crops.
The plan, he said, is to scale-up the adoption of climate-smart shade houses by coconut farmers across Guyana’s diverse agro-ecological zones. The spacing between coconut plants, he explained is effective corridors for intercropping complementary crops – providing an opportunity for farmers to increase their incomes.
He emphasised that new coconut cultivation takes between three to five years to commence production and during this ‘wait period’ farmers have to spend money to maintain their farms. Therefore, intercropping is necessary to have a positive impact on farmers’ livelihood.
“CARDI, in collaboration with NAREI and the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), will also develop a manual on good agricultural practices for intercropping coconuts. From the data collected from these operations, recommendations for the optimum combination of crops to achieve profitability will be presented,” he underscored.

Emphasis, he said, is being placed on high valued intercrops such as bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, onions, beet root amongst others. These crops, he said, have the potential to justify the capital investment of a shade house, irrigation system and soil amendments. In addition, these crops grown locally carries a longer shelf life and quality when compared to imported counterparts.
“The coconut sector is the third largest agriculture sector in the country and government has committed to the transformation of this sector and we are extremely pleased to join government on this path. The benefits go beyond the growth of these crops since it contributes to coconut farmers becoming climate prepared and brought new skills and technologies to support coconut farms,” Kundun said.
Kundun explained that in Guyana and the Caribbean, the coconut sector is going to be further enhanced through production and productivity, value addition and marketing.

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