CIB Using Science to Increase Productivity of Coconut Plants

The island’s coconut farmers and other key players in the industry are to benefit from interventions being undertaken by the Coconut Industry Board (CIB) to boost production.

Speaking with JIS News, Chief Executive Officer of the CIB, Shaun Cameron, said, “We are using science and precise agriculture to increase productivity of coconut plants during their life cycles.”

He noted that the entity is partnering with Newport-Fersan (Jamaica) Limited to “come up with different stages of fertiliser for the different development stages of the coconut plant”.

“So, we have the booster line to help with the early development of the plant and then we have the vegetative line so that when the plant is fruiting there is a different fertiliser to apply to that particular plant,” he explained.

Another intervention is to educate farmers and pickers about “bunch counting”, which is a process by which the preferred, mature bunches of coconuts are identified.

This will ensure that coconuts are being harvested at the right stage to meet customers’ needs.

Mr. Cameron noted, for example, that at the CIB’s Coconut Shop at 18 Waterloo Road, which supplies fresh coconut water and coconut-based products, “our customers want the coconut “meat” experience but when the pickers are harvesting, they harvest five, six-or seven-month-old nuts that have not truly developed and are not able to provide the meat”.

“Our customers require nine-month-old jellies so that they can get the coconut water and the meat. So, what we’ll be doing is discussing with the pickers and teaching them how to do bunch counting so they are able to identify the mature, nine-month-old bunch,” he said.

Mr. Cameron noted that when less mature bunches of coconuts are picked, the constant production of nuts is reduced.

“There is an entire ecology around the coconut sector that is extremely technical and physical, so we’re trying to combine everything so there is more knowledge spread amongst the customers, the farmers, the pickers and everybody within the life cycle of the coconut plant,” the CEO said.