Guyana seriously exploring ways to revive coconut industry – Ramsammy

Guyana is preparing to host a conference with coconut specialists from Mexico in early September as steps are being made to revive the industry.

This was announced by Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who was at the time speaking at a press conference on Saturday. He said that this venture will be pivotal in the “reinvigorating” of Guyana’s coconut industry.

He pointed out that presently, coconut farmers are not fully knowledgeable about the different varieties of coconut and their benefits. But he said the delegation from Mexico will be engaging them in that capacity.

“We just grow coconut… if you want coconut water, they are special varieties, if you want virgin coconut oil, and coconut water, there are special varieties,” said Minister Ramsammy.

He pointed out that as of recent, the demand for coconut water and virgin coconut oil has skyrocketed and this will be the two major projects once things get going in the sector.

The Minister noted too that when the industry is developed, there will be some major changes and a lot of attention will be placed on reducing the damage to the environment.

 “We are developing the coconut industry that takes into consideration the environmental issues as the industry grows so will the environmental issues.”

The coconut industry in Guyana has been identified as one of the sectors with huge potential for further development. Coconut already exists in Guyana as one of the key non-traditional crops and its production relies on Guyana’s comparative advantages in terms of land, water and labour.

Coconut delivers a very wide variety of products, including coconut water, coconut oil, coconut milk and dried coconut, which are all in demand regionally and internationally. Guyana, at the beginning of this year had produced between 90 and 100 million coconuts per year, which approximates to some 70,000 tonnes and the world export market for coconut products, is about US$6 billion, while Guyana exports nearly US$3 million in coconut products.

In many of the major coconut-growing countries, coconut is known for its diverse uses including mature coconuts for production of dried copra for coconut oil, while fresh copra for virgin oil besides production of by-products such as desiccated coconut powder, spray dried milk powder, coconut milk, etc.

Immature, tender coconuts are familiarly called as nature’s packaged drinking water is a preferred refreshing healthy drink, which has many medicinal and nutritional properties.

Other potential by-products of coconut are husk for production of coir fibre and its several products, shell for production of shell charcoal, shell powder, activated carbon and many ornaments.

Coconut wood is being utilised for making furniture items and building materials such as doors, staircases, etc.