Call for research to boost coconut trees productivity

Coconut stakeholders want research carried out to improve the productivity of the crop and reduce importation of edible oils.

During the just-concluded national coconut conference in Kilifi, researchers said about Sh200 million is needed to research on the coconut tree.

Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro) Industrial Crop Research Institute director Finyange Pole said the country has been growing the East African tall and East African dwarf varieties whose production is low and takes a lot of time to mature.

“This is a research that would take 10 to 15 years and many donor organisations want something that would yield results in a short time. This leaves the government to fund this research. If we get funds, we can come up with a variety that will have high yields and produce fruits in the shortest time possible,” he said.

Pole said the country has been importing hybrid coconut seeds from Asia.

However, he said once the seedlings are ready for planting, the cost is normally high for an ordinary farmer to afford.

“The cost of bringing hybrid coconut seedlings to the country is about Sh2,000. This makes it very hard for farmers to buy such a seedling. The trees also have a higher demand for water. Our research would centre on a tree that would do well in our area without stressing the farmer,” Pole said.

He said fruits from the hybrid coconut trees cannot be replanted.

Kilifi agriculture chief officer Teddy Yawa said no research on the improvement of the coconut tree has been conducted since the crop was introduced in the country by the Portuguese in the 16th Century.

“It was considered as an industrial crop of considerable economic importance during the 20th Century and we have been planting coconut trees all those years without thinking about its future and how to improve it. If we want to benefit from this crop, then we must embark on serious research,” he said.

Kilifi North MP Owen Baya said he has drafted a Bill that if passed would see the Coconut Authority formed.   

He said a lot was happening on the coconut value chain before the Coconut Development Authority was collapsed to the nuts and oils directorate in the Agricultural and Food Authority AFA.

“AFA has so many crops to handle and when they receive money, they have to consider all the other crops. This makes the coconut value chain to receive very little attention but once we have a whole authority to handle the coconut crop, then we will be good to go,” Baya said.

According to statistics from AFA’s directorate of nuts and oils, there are more than 10 million trees out of which an estimated 1.3 million trees are below 10 years, 6.5 million are producing fruits and 2.6 million are above 60 years of age and therefore considered senile with very low production volumes.

In 2020, Kilifi county had the highest number of coconut trees at the Coast.

Linda Mnazi CBO chairperson Najma Mangi said the crop has been neglected for years.

Mangi said most trees have been attacked by pests and diseases but farmers have to use local means to deal with the pests as there are no known pesticides due to lack of research.

State Department of Crop Production secretary Rashid Khator said the government plans to plant 43,000 coconut seedlings across the six coastal counties.

He said the launch of the coconut planting should be a wakeup call to counties to allocate funds into planting more coconut trees.

Khator said the drive will enable the country have more nuts to produce its own edible oil.

“The country is losing billions of shillings in the importation of edible oil. The government is scaling up the production of oil crops so we can reduce the importation of edible oil. The region has the capacity to grow crops that will enable this country achieve that goal,” he said.

The potential of coconut in Kenya is estimated to be Sh25 billion annually but only 53 per cent has been utilised.

The coconut value chain has more than 120 products.