T&T: Reviving the coconut industry
There was a time when there were large coconut plantations in Cedros, Icacos, Mayaro, Nariva, Blanchisseuse, Chaguanas and Toco, but many have grown progressively smaller the result of a mixture of lessening overseas demand and efficiency. The intervention of the St Patrick’s Coconut Growers’ Co-op Society is to be welcomed as statistics show that Trinidad and Tobago’s production levels of copra have slipped dramatically since 1972, when approximately 12,500,000 kilogrammes were turned out, to less than 500,000 kilogrammes in 2008. A study had concluded larger sugar estates in Trinidad and Tobago had tended to be more efficiently run and had produced some 80 percent of the country’s copra.
Understandably, however, the Coconut Growers’ Society would seek to operate at a high level of efficiency with desired production results. In turn, the Society’s interest suggests that once again copra is being viewed as being in for the long haul. The St Patrick’s Coconut Growers’ Co-op Society is clearly responding to increased overseas demand. The wide range of uses, not only for copra itself, but the shell in which it is contained and the outer husk, makes this possible. Indeed, every part of the coconut can be and has been used commercially. For example, the milk of the green coconut is, repeatedly used as an ingredient in ice cream, pelau, bread and bake and is employed as a rubbing agent on the skin as well. Copra, which is often described as the “dried meat” of the coconut is used in sweet bread, bake and confectionery, for example, regular “sweets”, sugar cake and toolum.
The fibre of the husk or outer covering of dried coconuts is used in hanging baskets and mattresses. In turn, copra contains a great deal of vegetable oils and is employed in many cases as a principal ingredient in some margarines and soaps. We should point out that the wide range of uses of the husk of the dried coconut extends also to the making of brooms, including “cobweb brooms”. Then there is the coconut water industry. The tasty beverage costs $6 per nut or $45 per litre and with the St Patrick’s plan to increase tree growth, these prices may be reduced. Meanwhile, although this has not been spelt out by the St Patrick’s Coconut Growers’ Co-op Society, yet depending on the extent of their development programme and the capital they plan on employing, their thrust may be one of the factors in the diversification of the country’s economy.
While, understandably, Trinidad and Tobago’s copra never mounted what could perhaps be described as a serious challenge to South East Asia’s, an area long reputed as the greatest supplier of copra on the international market, nonetheless our copra has been among those having the distinction of having been dealt in on the group markets of the London Commodity Exchange. Meanwhile, because of the continuing international financial crisis and the lingering doubt as to how soon the country’s crude oil and natural gas unproven reserves would last, the need to diversify Trinidad and Tobago’s economy is of increasing importance. St Patrick’s Coconut Growers, apart from needing to have access to advances in technology with respect to the acquisition of machinery may very well be thinking of entering into arrangements with international majors. Business Day will watch the progress of the St Patrick’s Coconut Growers’ Co-op Society with interest.
Source: newsday.co.tt