7000 coconut seedlings for Pomeroon farmers

About 120 Pomeroon farmers from Region Two will improve their coconut production after receiving 3,000 high-yielding Brazilian Green Dwarf seedlings.

This is the first tranche of roughly 7,000 seedlings expected to be distributed to farmers.

The saplings were handed over by Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, during a meeting in Charity on Wednesday.

The distribution fulfils part of a commitment made to the farmers by the minister during an outreach in February.

“This is a high-yielding nut that will give us approximately 240 coconuts per tree every year. Now, we are producing approximately 160 coconuts per tree… From these high-yielding nuts that we brought, we will be producing between 700 and 750 millimetres of water,” Minister Mustapha explained.

This variety is extremely productive, enabling farmers and agro-processors to satisfy the growing demand for coconuts and their by-products locally and regionally.

Apart from the nuts, coconut shredders were also distributed to minimise wastage and the discarding of coconut shells in the Pomeroon River.

Each shredder costs $1,800 and will be used to process waste materials such as coconut husks into coconut fibre, which can be used for mulching and other agriculture-related purposes.

In 2023, 40,000 seedlings were produced, and 13,000 high-yielding coconut seedlings were imported to increase coconut productivity nationwide. To date, Guyana has imported over 60,000 high-yielding nuts from Brazil.

“Very shortly, we will be importing another 40,000 high-yielding coconuts from Mexico with the corporation of IICA,” Minister Mustapha announced.

Coconut is the third largest revenue earner for the country. This initiative aligns with the government’s overall aim to accelerate coconut production.