John Myers Jr., Staff ReporterJAMAICA'S COCONUT industry continues to suffer from the adverse effects of the lethal yellowing disease, while a project that was scheduled to get off the ground last year to assist in eliminating the disease, is yet to be implemented.
The Coconut Industry Board, chaired by Dr. Richard Jones, explained that representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) continue to be in disagreement with a decision made by the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) to appoint the board as the Project Executing Agency (PEA). A substantial part of the cost to implement the project is to be funded by the CFC.
The board, in its annual report dated April 1, said, "This decision by the CFC did not find favour with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, which is the reason for the delay, as some of the officers at the FAO would like the FAO to be the PEA and the supervisory body for the project."
The report further stated that "the Coconut Industry Board has been concerned about the delay in implementing the project as the coconut trees continue to die and, in an effort to resolve the matter, we requested the Minister of Agriculture, the CFC and the FAO to do all within their powers to have the project implemented without further delay,"
But the FAO, in response to the accusation levelled against it, has denied being indifferent to the CFC's decision to appoint the Coconut Industry Board as the PEA for the project.
Don Robinson, the FAO's country representative in Jamaica, when contacted, said, "I have no knowledge of that event and ... why would we be upset? We have more than what we can do right now. If somebody else wants to do something like that, it would be up to them. We would not be upset about a particular decision of that nature ..."
In an effort to resolve the impasse, the Coconut Industry Board said meetings were held at the headquarters of the CFC in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with the FAO, following which an independent observer was sent to the region to assess the lethal yellowing disease, speak with the partners and review the project document and compile a report.
It is estimated that just over one million coconut trees have died from the lethal yellowing disease between the early 1990s and December 2004.
