Guyana’s coconut industry soars with over 32,000 acres cultivated

…record growth in seedling production

Guyana’s coconut industry has seen a massive expansion over the year and continues to flourish with more than 32,000 acres cultivated at the end of December 2024.

This was revealed by the Ministry of Agriculture in a statement on Wednesday, in which it sought to highlight the various initiatives implemented by Government to improve agricultural productivity across various fields.
Focusing on coconut, the ministry explained that as a result of its National Coconut Decentralisation Programme (NCDP), production of coconuts has grown significantly over the past four years.
According to the Agriculture Ministry, the total acres cultivated as of December 2024 is approximately 32,556 acres. An additional 2,000 acres is expected to be cultivated this year.
In 2024, Hope Coconut Industries Limited, or Hope Estate, also performed exceptionally well, having produced approximately 51,320 coconut seedlings by the end of December last year.
Presently, Guyana has 10 coconut nurseries that produce coconut seedlings for distribution and sale. These are located in Regions One (Barima-Waini), Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Four (Demerara-Mahaica, Five (Mahaica-Berbice), and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
Since 2020, some 7,113 new acreages for coconuts were created.
Today, coconut is said to be ranked as the third-highest income earner in Guyana’s agriculture sector.
Back in December 2020, Government had launched the decentralized programme with the commissioning of a $1.1 million coconut nursery at Kairuni on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway to address accessibility of future coconut plants to meet farmers’ needs amidst growing demand
Earlier this month Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said that, “Farmers on the East Bank and Region 10 will no longer have to travel to the East Coast to purchase coconut plants.”
In the first year of the current PPP/C administration, Guyana exported $2.5 billion worth of coconuts and related products.
To further increase productivity, 13,000 Brazilian dwarf coconut seed nuts were imported by the Ministry’s Hope Coconut Industries Limited (HCIL) in 2023, at a cost of $12 million – an investment that promises faster maturity and higher yield per annum with lesser chances of diseases.
Some 3,000 more Brazilian coconut seedlings were subsequently given to approximately 120 farmers in Pomeroon, enabling them to yield approximately 240 coconuts per tree.
The minister said, “We will continue those efforts and engage between 275 to 300 farmers who’ll benefit from seedlings so that we can further develop the industry and increase our export.”
Only last week, a team from Cohibra, a leading Brazilian research and technology-based coconut seed nut farm, visited Guyana to inspect the progress of the seed nuts they had supplied to Guyana and engage local farmers.
Coconut production in 2023 reached 40,000, supplemented by the importation of an additional 13,000.
But with over $1.2 billion invested in the coconut sub-sector over the past four years and continued efforts through decentralisation, the industry is poised for further expansion.
In fact, Guyana’s thriving coconut industry was recently used to entice regional food giant, GraceKennedy out of Jamaica to expand manufacturing operation in Guyana.
The food manufacturing and distribution company was part of a recent Business Mission from Jamaica that was in Guyana to explore potential investment opportunities here.
During an interactive session last Friday, Senior Minister with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, cited the coconut industry as one area that Grace can capitalise on.
“We could introduce you to some of the coconut people, because the truth is GraceKennedy coconut water should have in the fine print ‘Product of Guyana.’ GraceKennedy coconut cream, coconut milk, coconut powder. Your coconut should not come from Thailand, your coconut should come from Guyana.”
“And so, we’d be very happy to introduce you to the coconut people to say, how can we get Guyanese coconut [into your products, and] how can we get a GraceKennedy factory and we would be happy to partner with you on that,” the minister noted.