MINISTRY PAPER NO: ~3
.. !' ·
THE COCONUT INDUSTRY - PRODUCTION 1-1ND RESEAR CH
PROGRAHHES
The following Report on production and research programmes
within the Coconut Industry is submitted for the inf or n ation of
the Honourable House .
The Jama ican Coconut Industry is supervised by a statutory
body, the Coconut Industry Board.
The Board is fin an ced entirely
by cesses i mp osed upon the coconut crop.
The Boa rd provides growers
with a v arie ty of services which includ e the establishment of stable
prices for coconuts, au to ma tic and contractua l hurricane insurance,
as well as a Research Depar t ment with an Advisory Divi s ion.
op erations of the Board's Research Department a t pr esent
The
costs
£50 , 000 annually or just under 4% of t he total v alue of th e coconut
crop.
The work of the Board 's Research Department has been we llrecogniz ed and visitors have come from a numb er o f countries a nd
organi zations including Fiji , the Seyche lles, Uni lever, Costa Ri ca
and the Dominican Repu blic to study the Boa rd's Resear c h Programmes.
Consultants ' servic es ha ve a lso been p rovid ed for a number of
countries and organiza tions such a s Nicaragua, Venezuela and the
South Pacific Commission .
Over recent years ther e has b een a steady growth in the demand
for coc onuts and coconut pro du ct s but unfortunately pro du ction has not
kept pace with demand .
A number of measur es have been implemented from
ti me to time to stimu l ate production r a n g ing fro m the fixing of r easo nably
remun erat iv e pric es to the provision of a wide ran g e of t echnic a l ser-
1967 the price of coconuts was r aised from £1.1. 0. per
vic es .
During
unit to
£1. 2 . 6. per unit for a ll varieties r esulting in a gene r a l
incre ase of
£8.0.5. pe r ton for a ll grade s of co pr a .
of copra is fix ed a t
for Grade II and
'l'he current price
£76. 7. 5- per ton for Grade I, £73. 7. 5. per ton
£71. 7. 5. per ton for Grade III .
'rhe unit we i g ht of
coconuts are as follows Jamaica Tall
Ha l ayan Dwarf
San Blas
135 lbs.
155 lbs.
170 lbs.
The •••••
-2The major emphasis within the industry over recent years has been
on increasing the production of coconuts to meet present and anticipated de r,Jand.
The Board's research programmes have accordingly been
directed to (a)
finding ways a nd means of combating the threat to the
industry posed by the Lethal Yellowing disease;
(b)
propagating strains which are immune to the disease to
enable growers to replant their fieldsQ
(a)
The Lethal Yellowing disease has already destroyed most of
the Jamaican Tall coconut palms in the western part of the island as far
east as Rio Bueno, and it is now threatening the parishes of St. Mary,
Portland and St. Thomas.
97%
of the island's copra is produced in
these three parishes and the value of the production is as follows St. Mary
Portland
St. Thomas
£535,000
£300,000
£500,000
Resistant Malayan Dwarf palms in
1967
total palms in these parishes so that
represented only about
7%
of the
93% of all palms are threatened.
The dieease has not actually entered St r Thomas, but is affecting
palms from Long Bay to Boston in Portland and from Orange Bay in
Portland to Annatto Bay in St. Mary.
It is also affecting palms in
Albany and Richmond districts in St. Mary.
There is no known means of controlling or limiting the spread
of the disease.
There are two lines of research currently being
pursu0~
(a)
the F.A,O is conducting research into the cause of the
disease. The research team is pursuinG a main line of
investigation on white flies which are believed to be
the insect
vector, but it may take another two or three
years for this to be verified. The immediate benefit of
this line of research will be a reduct~on in the testing
time for determining resistance through insect transmission of the disease to very young plants.
(b)
The Board's own research programmes are designed to develop
varieties and hybrids which are resistant or immune to the
disease. With financial assistance from the U.K, Ministry
of Overseas Development, a number of coconut varieties were
broug ht into the island from the Pacific islands. Additional
varieties were subsequently broug ht in from the Far East,
South East Asia, West Africa and Peru. The present method
of testin~ for resistance is to expose the plants to the
disease by inter-planting with Jamaican Talls in the
diseased areas. Some apparently resistant varieties planted
in 1964 are beginning to bear and to yield valuable information but it is too early to state with assurance that the new
plantings are resistant to the disease.
The .; .;·•• •
-3The limited information available does not al low the researchers to stop th e spread o f the disease in the main affected areas.
How-
ever , the Board is attemp ting to prevent any development of isolated
outbreaks in new areas by experimenting with various techniques which
involve poisoning and insecticidal spraying of trees in the vicinity of
the affected palms .
The island is fortunate in having at least one variety whose
resistance has already been established .
The Ma l ayan Dwarf , first
imported into the island after the hurricanes of
1944 and 195 1 from
St. Lucia, c ontinues to exhibit strong resistance to the disease .
A Coconut Rehabilit atio n Scheme was introduced in
1966 under
which plants of the resistant variety and c ash benefits are provided
for growers who l ose palms tofue disease .
Funds for the operation of
the Scheme are obtained from a cess of 10/- on each ton of copra sold
by the Board.
Benefits to g rowers comprise one replacement seedling
plus 10/- for each pa l m lost to the disease, plus two additiona l
seedlings, at the grower 's option.
The 10/- is payable at the rate of
2/6 per year for four years , the first 2 /6 being paid with the deliv e ry of
the seedling .
No cash benefit is attached to the two additiona l
seedlings .
Growers in the diseased areas who deliver coconuts for copra
are entitled to benefit under the Scheme when they have suffered the
first 2}'2% loss of bearing trees on their property .
benefit exceeds the actual loss so t hat
At al l stages the
the grower is ab le to replant
his cultivation ahead of the disease and may end up with three times the
original number of palms .
The resistant plants are from mother palms
carefully selected by the Board 's research department and p ropagated in
Govern men t and Board nurseries .
Plants are delivered only when the Board is satisfied that the
g rower is ready and ab le to plant them and cash instalments are paid only
when the Board is satisfied that the plants are still alive and have been
properly ma intained.
Reeular inspections are made and the grower is
enc ouraged to spend a part of each instalment on fertilizer and herbicide
which he c an obtain through the Board and which can be delivered to him at
his cultivation.
During
1968 , 445,000 seedlings were propagated in Government ,
Board •••••
-4Board a nd private nurseries.
In additio n 175,000 seedlings were
carried over from 1967 thus making a total of 620,000 seedlings available for distribution during 1968.
During the year a total of 245,183
seedlings were distributed to growers .
Adequate supp lies of seedlings
are now available and it is hoped that growers will take full advantage
of t h is situat ion to replant their fields.
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
Nay 6, 1969.