Coconut farmers in the Pomeroon, Region Two will soon benefit from planting materials from the Ministry of Agriculture with the aim of boosting coconut production.
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha made this disclosure last week while in the region spearheading a series of community meetings.
He told those in attendance that the government has been making a lot of investments in the region to resuscitate the productive sectors.
“A lot of farmers who have plantations have older trees that are not producing the amount of coconuts they used to. This is why, as Minister of Agriculture, I’ve decided to implement a programme whereby 100 coconut farmers from the Pomeroon will receive about 7,000 high-yielding Brazilian Green Dwarf seed nuts to cultivate. As you know, this variety produces a sweeter and higher volume of coconut water and bears after about three years. This will be a game-changer,” he explained.
Mustapha also mentioned that this will enable both farmers and agro-processors to satisfy the increasing local demand for coconut and coconut-related products, as well as tap into lucrative foreign markets. He stated that global sales of coconut water were expected to exceed US$11 billion and the government was making the resources available to ensure Guyana benefits from that industry.
“We are also looking to have other permanent crops grown that were cultivated here in the past. Very shortly we’ll start the reintroduction of cocoa and coffee in the Pomeroon. You know this area used to produce a lot of coffee. The germplasm will be coming from Costa Rica soon, so that we can begin to distribute planting materials to farmers in the Pomeroon. Our technical officers and specialists will also work along with you to develop your plots so that we can resuscitate coffee production,” Mustapha said.
Back in August 2022, the government had announced plans to restart coffee cultivation in the Pomeroon. Mustapha explained that the goal was to supply the local coffee market within three years.
He said the ministry was actively working to make all the planting materials for the permanent crops free of cost to farmers in the Pomeroon. Further, farmers will also benefit from a series of works to improve drainage and irrigation, specifically through the “bed and drain”, and block drainage programmes.
