The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) has spent some $20,000 on a shipment of lethal yellowing-resistant coconuts in a bid to foster the industry, an executive telling Tribune Business that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of gallons of coconut water was imported each year. According to Arnold Dorsett, BAIC's assistant general manager responsible for agriculture, the Corporation has begun distributing 6,000 lethal yellowing resistant coconuts to Family Island farmers to help build a coconut products industry. "This shipment is rounding out somewhere about $20,000. It's a small kind of project we are trying to introduce to stimulate this sector with that," Mr Dorsett told Tribune Business. These varieties of coconut, the Maypan hybrids and the Panama dwarfs, were purchased from Jamaica, with the assistance of the Jamaica Coconut Board. Mr Dorsett added: "We have had the lethal yellowing in this country for years. This is the disease that causes the coconut leaves and the heads of the coconut to fall off. There has been, over time, introductions of coconut varieties that are resistant to it. "The Ministry of Agriculture has brought in some, and BAIC has brought in some to further encourage the industry to replace those coconuts that have died out, and introduce a coconut that is resistant to the lethal yellowing. The Jamaican tall variety was one that was susceptible to the diseases." Mr Dorsett said the Bahamas imports a significant amount of coconut water each year, added that there were a few persons who have expressed interest in local coconut water production. "We are still importing, if not millions, hundreds of thousands of gallons of coconut water, so if we had an industry we should be organising to tap into that,"he added. "This is an area that I think, over time, once we can get sufficient persons growing coconuts with that intention, there may be someone interested in coming in and putting up a coconut water company where you can harvest the coconuts, collect the water and process it. No one is currently doing that." Mr Dorsett said: "We import millions of dollars of coconut water form Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Jamaica. We believe that with a little incentive in trying to help farmers repopulate coconuts, and also help them find varieties that are resistant and have good nuts, we should be able to help farmers to tap into producing more nuts so that we can get some water. The market is there but we can't provide it right now."