This article is being published by the Stabroek Business as a service to the secretariat organizing the October 21-23 Coconut Festival being held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre. Limited editing has been effected to take account of style and space.
The current size and economic potential of the global coconut industry provides every incentive to make significant investment of lands and other resources in the sector. This is not to say that there are not major challenges in so doing, the first being the need to make a conscious decision to pursue a long-term commitment that might even outlive the investor.
Coconut trees remain productive for decades. On the other hand, they usually have a comparatively long period of gestation prior to the start of their reproductive life. Accordingly, serious investment in the sector ought, correctly, to be attended by a succession plan designed to see the project through to fruition and to place it in a condition to be passed on to succeeding generations.
