Hugh Martin PERHAPS THE best kept secret in Jamaica today is the work being done on coconuts. I can't understand why because it is equal to and perhaps surpasses similar work in other areas in Jamaica and the Caribbean. What is even more surprising is the fact that there was no mention of that crop in the Sectoral Debate presentation by Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke. It's as if coconuts, once one of the five major agricultural crops and a significant supplier of raw material to the Agro-processing industry, had become of no more importance.
When I mentioned the omission at his 'Post-Presentation News Conference' on May 19 however, there was nothing but high praise for the Coconut Industry Board and State Minister Errol Ennis responded with candour and near regret that he didn't have more time to tell of the marvellous work going on there. I am indebted to him for the information he has sent me since.
In February 2002 I wrote on the upsurge of the Lethal Yellowing Disease and since January of this year I've tried unsuccessfully to find out what progress has been made in identifying new resistant varieties or hybrids to replace those that had fallen to a more virulent strain of the killer disease. The silence had nothing to do with secrecy, it seems, but there was so much going on and the researchers were kept so busy that they were virtually inaccessible.
ALIVE AND THRIVING
On Tuesday however, Mr. Basil Bean, Director of Research at the Board, took time out to talk about the work to keep the coconut industry alive and thriving. The main thrust of the Coconut Board now is to combat the Lethal Yellowing disease; not so much to find a cure for it as to discover a variety, strain or hybrid that is resistant to it. Since the late 80s and into the 90s a new strain of the disease has wreaked havoc on the three types of Malayan Dwarfs and the May Pan Hybrid that had saved the industry in the 1960s catastrophe with their resistance. It is now only a matter of time before they too go the way of the Jamaican Tall, but Mr. Bean is making sure that before that happens other varieties will be found to replace them. So plants from all parts of the world that don't have the disease have been brought in to be used in a major collaborative project involving several international funding and research agencies.
This project had its genesis in a special conference held in Jamaica in 2001 at which all the leading people in Lethal Yellowing research from all over the world were in attendance. It is expected to cost US$4,723,000 and will be partially funded by the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC). In the meanwhile links have been forged with numerous other research agencies across the globe including CIRAD in France and Max-Plank Institute in Germany which donated a fully equipped molecular laboratory. This places the Coconut Board on the cutting edge of technology as it now has the facility for the application of DNA techniques to identify resistant varieties.
PRESERVING THE GERM STOCK
But the Board is not involved solely in esoteric research. It assists growers in replanting and in new planting especially in non-traditional coconut areas where the disease has not yet appeared. This is an effort to preserve the germ stock as well as to maintain a high population of trees to supply the country's requirements of coconut products. The generation of Jamaicans below 40 years old are perhaps ignorant of any other product of coconut other than coconut water, jelly and maybe coconut milk used in cooking rice and peas. They would be surprised to know that the Coconut Board was once the sole owner of SEPROD Ltd which produced a wide range of soaps, cooking oil and numerous edible products.
One coconut product that had a huge export market was Glycerin which was used in the manufacture of nitro-glycerin, an explosive. Mr. Bean told me that the Japanese, during World War II, invaded the Pacific islands because they needed the coconut oil to make explosives and the Germans held on to Tanganyika for the same reason. In those days there was no need for a 'weapons of mass destruction' excuse, I guess. Some of those products have become obsolete because cheaper sources have been found or developed but there are still a large number of others that the Coconut Board has decided to develop at its Waterloo office and laboratory complex with a view of passing on to the growers and other entrepreneurs. Coconut oil, once the victim of misrepresentation in a product war, has now been given a clean bill of health and is poised to make a big comeback. But first of all we need to know that the Coconut Industry Board is getting all the help it needs to win the fight against Lethal Yellowing. And Minister, please don't forget to tell us about it next year.
Hugh Martin is a communication specialist and farm broadcaster who can be reached at humar@cwjamaica.com.
