TWENTY-seven experts and stakeholders from the coconut industry completed a four-day ‘Coconut Risk Management and Mitigation Manual for the Pacific Region’ yesterday at the Tanoa International Hotel, Nadi.
According to the Pacific Community (SPC), the training was a follow-up of the successful Coconut Industry Development Programme (CIDP) workshop conducted in April this year that resulted in participants agreeing on 24 technical recommendations, as well as an online survey about incentives and risks disseminated to more than a thousand coconut stakeholders worldwide in June 2018.
The objective of the training was twofold – first, it endeavoured to train regional participants on risk mitigation in the Pacific’s coconut sector.
Secondly, work was conducted with agriculture officers, entomologists, scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs from 14 Pacific island nations to complete the manual which the Pacific island countries could use to strengthen their coconut industry.
CIDP team leader Naheed Hussein said: “CIDP has brought together a diverse group of coconut industry stakeholders from around the region who can significantly contribute to the completion of this manual. So far, a large number of risks have been identified as threats to the sector, and it is CIDP’s priority to ensure mitigation strategies are put into place to protect, preserve and strengthen the coconut industry.”
The Coconut Industry Development for the Pacific is a joint initiative of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the European Union (EU), as part of a broader economic partnership between the EU and the African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) states.
