Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) has started to distribute coconuts resistant to lethal yellowing to farmers on Family Island as a bid to help build a coconut industry.
These Maypan hybrids and Panama dwarfs are going initially to North and South Abaco, Long Island, North and South Andros, Eleuthera, and Exuma.
“These are varieties that are resistant to lethal yellowing, they begin bearing very low to the ground, and they last a long time,” said BAIC assistant general manager (agriculture) Arnold Dorsett.
“They are very productive varieties and we look forward to farmers harvesting coconuts for a long time at arms length.”
The coconuts varieties were purchased from Jamaica, which already has a flourishing coconut industry.
“The Maypan and Panama Dwarf contain lots of water and they have good quality,” said Mr Dorsett. “They are Jamaica’s best varieties.”
The initiative is the idea of BAIC executive chairman Edison M Key, the Member of Parliament for South Abaco.
