FACED with the ever-present threat of the lethal yellowing and bud rot diseases which have depleted the coconut stock in Jamaica, the Coconut Industry Board (CIB) is seeking to expand the coconut-growing programme outside of the locus of eastern Jamaica.

According to general manager of the CIB Shaun Cameron, this is just one of the risk management and mitigation strategies that will improve the geographic diversification of the crop as well as the redundancy in supply.

“This is a personal goal. I believe in risk management and, based on our history, our mass of production for coconuts has been in the east [where] there is a lethal yellowing problem, especially in St Thomas. Our nursery is [now] in the west and we were able to sustain the industry because it’s in a non-lethal yellowing area,” Cameron told the Jamaica Observer in an interview.

“So logic would dictate now that I would look to grow out and develop the west, to expand the nursery capacity of the west, and expand seedling production in the west and plant out the west,” he continued.

The west to which the Cameron referred is the CIB’s nursery in St Elizabeth. It is one of the many nurseries the organisation uses as a distribution channel to propagate coconut farming throughout the island to provide farmers with seedlings. The general manager believes it would be a good starting point to expand the country’s coconut farming programme.

“It would be, because one of the reasons we ended up putting a farm in St Elizabeth is [because] we wanted an area not prone to lethal yellowing, and the research team had purchased/leased lands in Barton Isle and we have our nursery there,” Cameron explained.

Based on the success of the nursery and farm in St Elizabeth the coconut industry has been able to withstand disease as well as natural disasters such as Hurricane Gilbert, Cameron said. To this end, he believes that should another wave of lethal yellowing or bud rot “devastation” occur in eastern Jamaica, the country would “have a constant support and supply” from outside that belt.

“So it would make sense that we increase the nursing capacity in St Elizabeth to facilitate increased production in the west. So there’s redundancy in place so that if we do have a hurricane or lethal yellowing, at least we won’t have a significant loss as we did in the past and we’d be able to sustain the industry based on that risk management implementation in the west,” he expounded.

Of the 546 coconut farmers registered with the CIB up to 2021, a majority of those are from St Thomas, Portland, St Mary, and St Andrew. However, when asked about the location of the minority, Cameron said he did not have that data on hand.

As such, this data will be ascertained through the mapping of the coconut industry with the help of the Geographic Information Systems Department at the National Works Agency. A further survey of farmers would be done to determine the age of farmers in the subsector.

To expand the production of coconut even further across the island, Cameron said the CIB is looking to partner with farmers to develop nurseries and increase the number of seedlings.

“When we have more seedlings being distributed to our farmers we’d be able to increase the amount of coconut trees that we have planted in Jamaica [and] that would automatically increase production of coconut for our farmers,” the CIB general manager informed Business Observer.

He estimates that having another two nurseries measuring over two acres each would significantly improve the distribution of seedlings. Moreover, he said he has considered working with the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority on this initiative.

A coconut seedling takes three to five years to mature to the point of producing fruits. The CIB has engaged in research to find varieties that can produce within two to three years.

While the organisation has set a target of distributing 100,000 seedlings, in 2021 it provided approximately 40,000 to farmers.

“We usually set a target for 100,000 seedlings per year but we may have to revise that based on the nursery capacities and the risks that affect us,” Cameron said, adding that “praedial larceny is a big risk that affects us and how we can increase our germination rate for our nurseries”.

With the germination rate of seedlings now averaging between 40 per cent and 50 per cent at nurseries, the CIB has implemented measures to increase that rate to 70 per cent.

Another challenge that has beset the CIB is the cost to distribute seedlings. Whereas the organisation has distributed coconut seedlings at no cost to farmers in the past, it can no longer afford to do so, the CIB director told stakeholders at the Coconut Growers’ Association’s annual general meeting last August. Still, the CIB aims to provide seedlings at a subsidised cost.

“We do so for registered farmers — it’s about $200 per seedling — and [for] non-registered farmers it’s about $400 to $600 based on the variety,” Cameron shared with Business Observer.

Quizzed about the take-up of seedlings, the general manager did not indicate a number but said that based on the CIB’s town hall meetings there are a lot of people who have expressed interest. For those who have started the process of growing coconut plants and are waiting for them to mature, Cameron encourages them to do inter-cropping with produce such as bananas, plantains, pumpkins and pineapples.

In 2020 the local industry produced 108 million nuts. A year later that number increased by 11 per cent to 120 million.

“Our goal is to maintain our production level and increase it by five per cent to 10 per cent. However, we need to address our nursery issues and our germination issues,” Cameron outlined, adding that doing so will allow the CIB to meet its projected targets.

Furthermore, the CIB’s agronomists and botanists will be implementing climate-smart techniques such as water harvesting and using alternative sources of fertilisation to boost output. These solutions will be shared on the CIB’s revamped website and social media pages in future.