Minister Zulfikar Mustapha examining one of the seedlings at the Kairuni Nursery in the presence of CARDI Country Rep Jhaman Kundun and HCI Ltd General Mana
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha has commissioned a new coconut nursery at Kairuni, on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway.
This is the first of two nurseries that will be commissioned before the end of 2020. The facilities are said to have the capacity to produce 25,000 additional seedlings per year.
The nursery at Kairuni, which was developed at a cost of $1.1M, is in keeping with Government’s plans to promote and boost coconut production in Guyana, and was commissioned on Tuesday.
While offering remarks at the commissioning, Minister Mustapha said the Ministry is working to ensure proper coconut planting material is easily accessible to farmers across the country.
“At the Ministry of Agriculture, we are on the verge of developing the coconut industry. We’ve been invited to be a member of the International Coconut Community. We are working to have those arrangements finalised so that we can benefit from that platform in the coming year,” the Minister is quoted as saying in a release from that Ministry.
“Coconut has potential to contribute heavily to the development of our economy. That is why Government is putting the efforts, energy and resources into developing the industry. Over the next five years, we plan to decentralise the access of proper coconut planting materials. Today’s activity marks the first step in our decentralisation efforts,” the Minister added.
“Farmers on the East Bank and (in) Region 10 will no longer have to travel to the East Coast to purchase coconut plants. We will also be commissioning another nursery at Charity very soon. Next year I plan to establish a nursery in Berbice and, over time, move to other parts of the country, like in the interior,” Minister Mustapha said.
The subject minister is also encouraging farmers to get involved in cultivating other varieties of coconuts that are available in Guyana.
“Based on the current demand, this nursery only carries the 18 months’ coconut variety at the moment, which is grown for the water. But I want to encourage you to also look at the other parts of the coconut, in terms of the nut, oil production and copra,” Mustapha added.
General Manager of the Hope Coconut Industries Limited, Ricky Roopchand, while offering remarks, said the launch of the nursery marked an important day for Guyana’s coconut industry and the farmers of Regions Four and Ten.
Coconut runs third in Guyana’s agriculture sector, after rice and sugar, and first in the country’s non-traditional sector in terms of earnings. It is also the third largest industry in Guyana, currently occupying about 25,000 acres.
Chief Executive Officer of the National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute, Dr Oudho Homenauth, is encouraging farmers to explore inter-cropping while they wait on their trees to bear.
“When you plant a coconut tree, whether it’s the 18 months, the three years or the five years variety, you don’t get anything from it immediately. That is why one of the activities we are involved in currently is doing intercropping, of course with commodities or crops that have a market. That is what we’re promoting, and you will see a lot more of that in place,” Dr Homenauth said.
Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute (CARDI) Country Representative Jhaman Kundun has said that, given the progress made in Guyana’s coconut industry thus far, CARDI would be extending its research and development works for another five years.
Budget 2020 saw a sum of $1.25 billion allocated to NAREI to aid the promotion of agricultural diversification with a focus on coconut and horticulture by NAREI and Hope Coconut Estate. In addition to the establishment of the two coconut nurseries at Charity and Kairuni, farmers will also receive training to establish their own nurseries.
