The recent announcement that Guyana will be hosting a high-profile coconut industry forum in October this year will probably not attract much sustained interest beyond the direct stakeholders in the industry though in his briefing on the forum and the industry as a whole provided to this newspaper, Mr Raymond Trotz, Chairman of the National Stakeholders Forum for Coconut Development hoped otherwise.
Mr Trotz conceded that up until now Guyana may be missing out on the benefits accruing to other countries from the continually rising global prominence of coconuts, particularly among health enthusiasts. Here in the hemisphere, Brazil and Mexico, particularly, are benefiting from thriving coconut industries, developed over many years.
Not that Guyana has been standing still. Mr Trotz points to various modest initiatives in the coconut oil sub-sector among other investors in the manufacturing sector. He also singles out the efforts of the coconut farmers on the Essequibo Coast and in the Pomeroon River as sustaining the sector and the consequential considerable success that they have had in securing coconut water markets in Trinidad and Tobago.
As is the case with so many other commodities, however, meeting export demands continues to challenge the coconut sector. Mr Trotz says that while there are ready markets in Europe and North America the local industry simply cannot cope with the demands.
The inhibiting factors, he says, are, among other things, the decline, through neglect, of large swathes of coconut groves across the country and organizational weaknesses in the sector. Part of his own mission is to seek to create an organizational structure strong enough to ensure Guyana’s effective integration into the global coconut industry.
Setting aside the likely presence of Caricom representation at the October Coconut forum in Georgetown, the event will be attended by representatives from some of the major players in the global industry.
Of particular significance to Guyana is the anticipation that an invitation will be extended to the country to become a member of the prestigious Asia and Pacific Coconut Community, the membership of which are the producers of around 90 per cent of the world’s coconuts.
Mr Trotz believes that from the vantage point of that forum, Guyana will benefit from access to the level of technical support necessary to take the industry forward.
Significantly, he observes that the ‘noises’ that are now emanating from the coconut industry come at a time when, simultaneously, an energetic debate is ensuing in the agriculture sector on the future of both the sugar and rice industries. On the Essequibo Coast, particularly, uncertainties associated with the future of rice in the wake of the loss of the PetroCaribe market and the alternative market challenges are beginning to spark a debate about diversification and even crop replacement. The possibility of expanded coconut cultivation is believed to be under active consideration.
Of interest too, Mr Trotz says, is the potential for the agro processing sector arising out of the by-product potential of coconuts. The possibilities, he says, are “considerable.”
If precedent dictates that we do not, prematurely, invest exaggerated hope in the immediate prospects for the coconut industry, Mr Trotz – himself a producer of high-quality coconut water – is persuaded of the significance of the opportunity for a development in the agricultural sector that might have a game-changing effect on the economy. We must wait and see.
