Coconut planting material for the Pacific region

Information provided in this website aims to promote rejuvenation and replanting of coconut plantations in the Pacific region using preferably local coconut varieties. It was launched by Dr Roland Bourdeix in the framework of the CIDP expertise on "Coconut Production and Seeds System in the Pacific Region", of which the terms of references of the expertise are summarized here.

This website is under the Creative commons licence CC BY-ND 4.0. You are free to duplicate all the available information as long as its source is appropriately cited, as follow:

R. Bourdeix, K. Mapusua, N. Hussein, R. Lal, V. Kumar and J. Ollivier. 2018. Coconut planting material for the Pacific Region. https://replantcoconut.blogspot.com.

The Coconut Risk Management and Mitigation Manual for the Pacific Region:
52 contributors from 26 countries! and two meetings held in 2018 in Fiji...

Twelve high definition coconut posters to print and pin in your office!

See the 24 technical recommendations from the CIDP meeting on Coconut Production and Seeds Systems in the Pacific Region held in April 2018 in Nadi, Fiji

Varieties for replanting

Where farmers can find good coconut seednuts?
Tall-type varieties

Dwarf-type varieties

Compact and "Super" Dwarf varieties

False and true ideas about coconut hybrids
How will evolve farmers' varietal choices and coconut palm ideotypes?

Variety, Cultivar, Population and Accession, what does it mean?

The world catalogue of coconut conserved germplasm
List of germplasm conserved in ex situ coconut genebanks
How to download and extract data from the Coconut Genetic Resources Database

COGENT recommendations about planting material
How some Thai farmers are becoming millionaires by producing aromatic coconut water!

Preparation of the world first regional coconut varietal contest

Selection of mother palms and seednuts

Understanding coconut reproductive biology

Traditional Pacific islanders methods for selecting palms and seednuts
Recommended method for selecting good parent palms

Advanced methods for improving local tall-type populations

The simplest way to produce hybrids!

How farmers can produce Hybrid, Tall and Dwarf varieties in the same field!

The Polymotu concept for seednuts production

Use of genetic markers at nursery stage to select good varieties
Recommended seedbed and nursery management techniques

Needs for review and implementation of coconut breeding programs

Planting and replanting designs

Replanting old coconut groves
How to deal with old and unproductive coconut palms?
How many seednuts to plant one hectare?
Preparation of land and manpower for creating a new coconut plantation
Planting designs: classical, new and the newest!
A "new" idea: kill and replace the less productive palms!
Planting techniques: traditional, classical and organic
Farming systems and intercropping
Methods for assessing coconut fertilization requirements

Organic management of coconut plantations

Use of plant cover to reduce weeding and fix nitrogen
Legislations and list of authorised products for organic management

Organic management of coconut nurseries

Organic management of young and adult coconut plantations

Coconut seed systems

As debated in the Global Strategy for conservation and use of genetic resources, it seems possible to estimate roughly the number of coconut palms planted yearly at the global level. Coconut is cultivated as a crop on 12 million hectares, totaling approximately 1.44 billion palms, based on the likely average population density of 120 palms/ha. If we assume that coconut palms are replanted on average every 50 years, we can estimate that at least 28.9 million coconut palms (1/50, so 2%) need to be replanted each year simply to maintain a constant cultivated area. In fact the coconut area is presently increasing. Moreover, this first estimation does not take into account that a significant percentage of existing palms are already senile (more than 50 years old) and need to be replaced as soon as possible. Thus, this first estimation will have to be refined at the Pacific regional level, and for each Pacific country involved in CIDP project.

New tool for calculating the number of seednuts needed at national level

About the crucial importance of building databases of coconut farmers

Expert's view on incentives for boosting coconut sector

Coconut genebanks for seednut production

Overview by countries