JP Farms Limited is in the testing phase of exporting jelly coconuts.

General Manager Mario Figueroa told Jamaica Observer during a recent tour of the company’s lands in Annotto Bay, St Mary, that JP Farms has been exporting to a customer in Connecticut, USA, but indicated plans to expand the trade of the nuts into the rest of North America.

“This opportunity arose because we have some customers who want specific products — [yellow] yam, plantains, pineapples,” the Honduran added.

“And we are exploring that now because…we are open to serving customers, and we started in the Diaspora,” he added.

At present the company packs 10 to 12 coconuts in a perforated bag and loads them unto a pallet and then into containers for export. The company has experimented with other packaging but found that the mesh bag allows for proper aeration of the coconuts and, therefore, prevented spoilage.

According to JP Farms Crop Manager Tariq Kelly, the coconuts go through the same preparation process as other farm produce for export — washing, selecting, grading, applying pot-harvest treatment, and storing in a cold room. This allows the coconuts to last for three weeks in order to have a week’s shelf life upon reaching the US.

“To be frank with you, sending the fresh produce is harder than sending the processed product, so it took a lot of trial and error to try to get to the perfect product,” he explained Business Observer.

“When you’re selling something locally you have to ensure it lasts at least a week to at most a week and a half. So when you’re exporting, it needs to get to the customer in a perfect condition after two weeks and still be on the shelves for another week. So, those are the challenges that you have to overcome to maximise exports,” Kelly continued.

Asked about peeled dry coconuts, Kelly said JP Farms had done trials but will have to procure the machinery to peel the coconuts. There is also a higher demand for jelly coconuts.

While the company has a goal of sustainably harvesting between 1,500 and 2,000 nuts per week for export, Kelly shared that JP Farms has been constrained as a result of finding adequate labour due to rural to urban migration and an aging population, among other factors.

JP Farms reaps coconuts from over 1,000 trees on over 50 acres of farmland in St Mary. From this, over 5,000 nuts can be reaped in a week.

The company acquired its export licence from the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority earlier this year due to a growing demand from customers in the US. A distributor in another market has also expressed interest in jelly coconuts, Business Observer was told.