Coconut
- Women's focus group at a farmer participatory research workshop in N. Islam, Bangladesh. Credit: A. King
- Making rope from coconut residue in Vietnam. Credit: P. Batugal
Many people who depend on the coconut call it the tree of life, because it supplies them with more than 100 different products including food and drink, fodder for livestock, fibre and building materials.
Coconut is believed to have first grown in the Western Pacific. It now grows on about 12 million hectares in 90 countries. About 10 million families make their living from growing coconuts, about 8 million of these are in Asia and the Pacific. Nearly all of the world's coconut crops grow on small plots of less than 4 hectares.
Resources and livelihoods under threat
But the coconut faces several problems that prevent it from being fully exploited. These include low yield, unstable markets, pests and diseases, natural calamities and genetic erosion.
Traditional products derived from coconut, such as copra, the dried meat of the coconut, suffer from unstable markets and low international prices. As a result, the incomes of the many people who depend solely on coconuts for their livelihoods average less than US $200 a year.
One way to boost this income might be to develop improved varieties of coconut that would generate higher yields. But genetic erosion makes this a difficult task because the raw material for breeding better varieties is disappearing. In addition, coconut seeds are very bulky making them difficult to store in an ordinary genebank.
Only limited efforts have been made to conserve and use the genepool of these crops for the development and promotion of high-yielding and adapted varieties and hybrids, and for managing crop-associated diversity to enhance the sustainability of production systems. The linkage between the conservation of diversity and its use in the livelihood strategies of smallholder farmers is also weak.
Bioversity is working to see that these research needs are addressed.
Publications
Coconut Embryo In Vitro Culture
Coconut Embryo In Vitro Culture: Part II
Coconut in Vietnam
Midrib baskets: The art of giving
Descriptors for Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.)
FAO / IBPGR Technical Guidelines for the Safe Movement of Coconut Germplasm
Farmer Participatory Research on Coconut Diversity: Workshop Report on Methods and Field Protocols
Germplasm Health Management for COGENT's Multi-site International Coconut Genebank
Manual on Standardized Research Techniques in Coconut Breeding
Manual sobre T飮icas Estandarizadas para la Investigacion del Mejoramiento del Cocotero
Poverty Reduction in Coconut Growing Communities - Volume I
Poverty Reduction in Coconut Growing Communities - Volume II
Poverty Reduction in Coconut Growing Communities - Volume III
Proceedings of the COGENT Regional Coconut Genebank Planning Workshop
Promoting Multi-purpose Uses and Competitiveness of the Coconut