Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha visited the Hope Coconut Industries Limited (HCIL), located at Hope Estate, to witness the arrival and discharging of the latest batch of Brazilian Green Dwarf coconut seed nuts.
HCIL recently procured 13,000 additional seed nuts at a cost of $12 million as part of its 2023 work plan in keeping with the government’s overall goals of expanding and further developing Guyana’s coconut industry.
While offering remarks, Minister Mustapha said that the high-yielding variety was first introduced last December and that some 375 to 400 farmers across the country will benefit from the seedlings produced from this batch.
HICL also recently procured the first of eight coconut shredders that will be used to shred waste materials and shred them into smaller pieces. These outputs will then be used as inputs for planting such as mulching.
This 3-year variety has the potential to produce between 250 and 300 nuts per plant per year. As a result, it is ranked as a high-yielding variety.
(Ministry of Agriculture)