Cockoo for Coconuts in the Caribbean

No nuts?

In September it was widely reported that Caribbean producers were running out of coconuts. Many popular products including coconut water itself have seen increasing demand each year.

This week the Executive Director of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute, Barton Clarke says the major challenge would be sufficient planting material.

“Our numbers are showing that we have moved significantly and there has been an increase in coconut production by 20 to 30 percent. We are not running out of coconuts,” he said.

“The major constraint is going to be adequate amount of appropriate planting material given that we have to treat with three or four major international pests and diseases which attend on coconut,” Barton Clark told a news conference at the Caribbean Week of Agriculture being held in the Cayman Islands.

At the same time, Clark did not forecast any shortage of coconuts due to increased private sector interest in investing in coconuts in several countries including Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Guyana, and Belize.

Even though he denies a shortage, he nevertheless recommended inter-cropping to allow farmers to earn revenues while the trees mature. He also observed that farmers have been investing in new coconut plantations and rehabilitating older ones.

He, however, cautioned that experts would have to pay closer attention to the impact that increased coconut water production would have the availability of copra, the dried kernel, that is used to produce livestock feed. “Because of the emergence of coconut water, the fruit are not being allowed to mature so your copra production is declining,” he said.

Clarke said experts would have to consider whether to source coconut germ plasm within or outside the Caribbean and the movement of germ plasm among regional countries.

The Caribbean Community’s (Caricom) agricultural trade ministerial meeting is expected to discuss the future of the coconut industry among other areas of production and policies.

It’s obvious that the world has gone cockoo for coconuts and the industry is responding as quickly as possible.

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About Jake Johnson 242 Articles
Jake Johnson is a full-time travel bum, who prefers warm climates where the women wear less clothing. We've tried to teach him things like manners and diplomacy, but we've given up and simply rely on our editors to remove the most offensive bits from his articles. We take no responsibility for his inane ramblings opinions - they are his own.
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