Hugh MartinI HAD no idea that so many persons feel so strongly about coconuts. After my column of May 28, 'Coconut - The Forgotten Crop', I received a flood of e-mail messages from all parts of the globe expressing concern, making suggestions or just simply sharing information. Two of them in particular dealt with the area of by-products and product diversification that I was able to only mention. Another simply expressed the writer's love for the jelly coconut and I present it first.
"Thank you for your informative article on what is perhaps my favourite treat in the world! I had been wondering what had happened since I had read of the disease some two years ago threatening the crop and then saw all the headless trees on the drive to MoBay from Kingston. The first thing I do upon arrival in Jamaica is stop for a jelly coconut on the road to town from the airport".
PLANT SOME TREES
Well, doesn't that make you want to go out and plant some coconut trees in your backyard, along the fence and anywhere you have some space. You could do worse because the jelly coconut trade is doing so well these days that you won't have hands to sell your crop - if the praedial thief doesn't reap it before you, that is. One of the Coconut Industry Board's strategies to maintain adequate supplies of coconuts, even while Lethal Yellowing is killing off plants in the traditional coconut areas, is to encourage the planting of the crop in non-traditional areas where the disease is not present and not likely to go for some time.
But jelly coconut is just one aspect of the industry and, frankly, the most basic of products. This is exploiting the fruit at its immature stage even if the bottling of the water has resulted in a significant increase in availability and consequently consumption. Where the coconut becomes really important is in the products that come from the mature plant and fruit. When I spoke with Mr. Basil Bean, Director of Research at the Coconut Industry Board, he was as enthusiastic about the work in developing new products from coconuts as he was about combating the Lethal Yellowing disease.
But let's see what one of our readers had to say about this. "I have read your commentary in the online version of The Gleaner and felt obliged to respond to you. In Jamaica there is a sense that we are at the cross roads and do not know where to go. I have been living in South Africa since 1999; I spent two years also in the Seychelles, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean. My point is that there's a lack of creative spirit in Jamaica, we need to use what we have a lot more. The beef we cannot find market for can be dried and sold just as what is done with codfish. Coconut is highly under-utilised.. In this country there is a tremendous goodwill for Jamaican products, thus it is an untapped market (Southern Africa generally).
"What are we doing with Cassava? There are five countries that have taken the initiative to produce other commodities from it. The same thing can be done in Jamaica with coconut. For example, look at yogurt. Why can't we develop a method to preserve and market what is called the meat in the jelly coconut...? There are so many more things that I could tell you, but I am just waiting until I return to Jamaica to promote rural development through agro-processing.... We need to look at what Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are doing with coconut. In the Seychelles, I could walk in a supermarket and get grated coconut and also coconut milk... It does not need earth-moving activities for us to start looking at how we develop fully what God has given us. Thank you for a wonderful piece of commentary. Paul Thompson, South Africa"
INTERESTING IDEAS
Some interesting ideas from Mr. Thompson and there are others he won't share until he returns to put them into practice. In the meanwhile, let's look at what the Coconut Board is doing in that area. According to Mr. Bean they have begun to make use of every part of the coconut plant. This includes the pasteurisation of the water to give it a shelf life of up to six months; the production of cream from the meat of the jelly; the conversion of the husk, both dry and green, into dust which is in demand as a replacement for peat as an energy source.
All this and more is taking place at the board's compound at Waterloo Road with the aim of training farmers to diversify their production and reap the benefits of the added value. So Mr. Thompson, your ideas are shared and are being implemented. To the gentleman who sent information about our export of oven-burnt coconut shells to England to be used in making gunpowder during World War II, I think we should keep a lid on that one. We already have homemade guns; we don't want to provide a cheap source of ammunition.
Hugh Martin is a communication specialist and farm broadcaster who may be reached at:
humar@cwjamaica.com
