The complete title of this new manual is:
On-farm reproduction of coconut palms for breeding, seednut production, and in-situ conservation. A coconut farmers’ guide to better conserve, breed, use and market their seednuts. By R. Bourdeix, V. Johnson and C. Pilotti.
An FAO-ITPFRFA-supported, SPC-led project just published a Farmers’ Manual entitled: "On-farm reproduction of coconut palms for breeding, seednut production, and in-situ conservation. A coconut farmers’ guide to better conserve, breed, use and market their seednuts. "
This manual proposes a participatory solution to remedy the ongoing global shortage of quality coconut seednuts.
Most improved coconut varietal production is still conducted by national agricultural institutions, with little private-sector involvement. In most cases, improved seednuts are produced in volumes too scant to supply demand and sold at unrealistically high prices, in a market where farmers often wait months or years before accessing the planting material. Over millennia and despite biological constraints, farmers have created a wealth of coconut diversity. With little understanding of coconut reproduction biology, their on-farm selections are relatively ineffective over the short term. The varieties currently planted differ little from those they have been cultivating for centuries. For seednuts produced under natural, open pollination, the mother palm’s identity is known, but not that of the father palm. Often, less than 10% of the offspring reproduce the desired parental type and traits. We recommend a dual strategy based on 1) farmers’ seednut production, after being trained to use simple and inexpensive pollination techniques, and 2) establishing larger seed gardens to produce hybrids on a commercial scale, which will have higher production costs but will ensure a regular and large supply of seednuts. Knowledge of coconut reproductive biology is a key factor for conservation and breeding by farmers. In the manual, we provide background on simple, alternative methods of controlled pollination suitable for farmers. These untested methods need to be fully developed and validated in the framework of new participatory projects involving farmers, scientists extensionists and the private sector. Information availability and accessibility are crucial for conservation and use of coconut varieties. This includes developing illustrated varietal catalogues, and exchanging knowledge on variety classification, reproductive biology, and seednut production methods. We also introduce the coconut eco-museum concept, combining tourism, agriculture, education, and business. Teaching farmers to produce their own seednuts will increase their acceptance of hybrids produced elsewhere.
To see and download this manual please Click on this link:
https://www.spc.int/digitallibrary/get/wk5u9
or you can also Click on the link and cover page of the manual at the top of this post.
