The coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the family Arecaceae (palm family) and the only species of the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the whole coconut palm or the seed, or the fruit, which, botanically, is a drupe, not a nut. Cocos nucifera is a large palm, growing up to 30 m (98 ft) tall, with pinnate leaves 4–6 m (13–20 ft) long, old leaves break away cleanly, leaving the trunk smooth. Coconuts are generally classified into two general types: tall and dwarf. On fertile soil, a tall coconut palm tree can yield up to 75 fruits per year, but more often yields less than 30, mainly due to poor cultural practices and soil condition. Given proper care and growing conditions, coconut palms produce their first fruit in six to ten years, taking 15 to 20 years to reach peak production
Among modern Cocos. nucifera, two major types or variants occur: a thick-husked, angular fruit and a thin-husked, spherical fruit with a higher proportion of endosperm reflect a trend of cultivation in Cocos. Nucifera
PLANTING
Coconut palms tolerate some drought, but overall are moisture-loving plants that grow in sandy and loamy soils. They grow beautifully in any tropical climate that provides at least 25 inches of annual rainfall, up to 157 inches. Ambient humidity and abundance of rainfall is required during the warmest parts of the year when the sunlight intensity is strongest. Climates with warm, rainy winters and hot, humid and rainy summers are ideal. Coconut palms will also grow in frost-free climates that are warm or hot and sometimes arid — cycles of tropical wet and dry seasons — if irrigation is provided at appropriate times.
FRUIT
The endosperm is initially in its nuclear phase suspended within the coconut water. As development continues, cellular layers of endosperm deposit along the walls of the coconut, becoming the edible coconut “flesh”.Like other fruits, it has three layers: the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp. The exocarp and mesocarp make up the “husk” of the coconuts. The mesocarp is composed of a fiber, called coir, which has many traditional and commercial uses. The shell has three germination pores (micropyles) or “eyes” that are clearly visible on its outside surface once the husk is removed. A full-sized coconut weighs about 1.44 kg (3.2 lb). It takes around 6,000 full-grown coconuts to produce one tonne of copra
ROOTS
Unlike some other plants, the coconut palm tree has neither a tap root nor root hairs, but has a fibrous root system. The coconut palm root system consists of an abundance of thin roots that grow outward from the plant near the surface. Only a few of the roots penetrate deep into the soil for stability. This type of root system is known as fibrous or adventitious, and is a characteristic of grass species. Other types of large trees produce a single downward-growing tap root with a number of feeder roots growing from it.Coconut palms continue to produce roots from the base of the stem throughout their lives.
The number of roots produced depends on the age of the tree and the environment, with more than 3,600 roots possible on a tree that is 60 to 70 years old. Roots are usually less than about 75 mm (3 inches) in diameter and uniformly thick from the tree trunk to the root tip.
Inflorescence
The palm produces both the female and male flowers on the same inflorescence; thus, the palm is monoecious. The female flower is much larger than the male flower. Flowering occurs continuously. Coconut palms are believed to be largely cross-pollinated, although some dwarf varieties are self-pollinating.
APPILICATION
Coconuts are known for their versatility ranging from it use as food and also use cosmetics. They form a regular part of the diets of many people in the tropics and subtropics. Coconuts are distinct from other fruits for their endosperm containing a large quantity of water (also called “milk”), and when immature, may be harvested for the potable coconut water. When mature, they can be used as seed nuts or processed for oil, charcoal from the hard shell, and coir from the fibrous husk. When dried, the coconut flesh is called copra. The oil and milk derived from it are commonly used in cooking and frying, as well as in soaps and cosmetics. The husks and leaves can be used as material to make a variety of products for furnishing and decorating.
DISEASE
Coconuts are susceptible to the phytoplasma disease, lethal yellowing. One recently selected cultivar, the ‘Maypan’, has been bred for resistance to this disease. Yellowing diseases affect plantations in Africa, India, Mexico, the Caribbean and the Pacific Region
Pests
The coconut palm is damaged by the larvae of many Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species which feed on it, including the African armyworm (Spodoptera exempta) and Batrachedra spp.: B. arenosella, B. atriloqua (feeds exclusively on Cocos. nucifera), B. mathesoni (feeds exclusively on Cocos. nucifera), and B. nuciferae
Brontispa longissima (coconut leaf beetle) feeds on young leaves, and damages both seedlings and mature coconut palms. The fruit may also be damaged by eriophyid coconut mites (Eriophyes guerreronis). This mite infests coconut plantations, and is devastating; it can destroy up to 90% of coconut production. The immature seeds are infested and desapped by larvae staying in the portion covered by the perianth of the immature seed; the seeds then drop off or survive deformed. Spraying with wettable sulfur 0.4% or with Neem-based pesticides can give some relief, but is cumbersome and labor-intensive.
PRODUCTION
Coconut palms are grown in more than 90 countries of the world, with a total production of 61 million tonnes per year. Most of the world production is in tropical Asia, with Indonesia, the Philippines, and India accounting collectively for 73% of the world total (table) NIFOR Nigeria institute for oil palm research has developed varieties of coconut which yield 80-100 nuts per tree per year under proper management as against 30-45 nuts from the unimproved coconut. The improved yield also has a lower gestation period before it starts yielding fruits some as early as 3 years after planting.
The major inputs for commercial SORGHUM farming are; LAND, IMPROVED GRAIN, TRAINING, FERTILISER, DISEASE AND PEST CONTROL, FINANCE and MARKET.
LAND
Procuring Land for such commercial farming has to be done by professionals who have the eagle eye to decode the soil texture without much examination. It is also easier to source for land for agriculture through professionals because they have extensive network and can arrange Land for you in short notice and in a cost effective manner. There is little need to purchase land for farming in large scale from the beginning as this will tie down available capital, thus it is advisable to lease and subsequently pay for the land from the proceed of the farm. BUSINESS ADVISORY NETWORK is a guru in this regard and will help you arrange choice farm land at the best rate, all you have to do is to talk to us.
TRAINING
We will guide you on best planting season, spacing, fertilizer type, how to source fertilizer, fertilizer application. Weed control, Crops you may intercrop with COCONUT, the effects of intercropping on COCONUT yield, Storage and processing.
FINANCE
The central bank of Nigeria has a lot of incentives/ credits for commercial farmers at a reduced interest rate of 9% per annum. Most of these are organized by the central bank of Nigeria although accessed through the commercial bank. BAN will guide you on how to source credit under any of these credits listed below;
Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) The Fund guarantees credit facilities extended to farmers by banks up to 75% of the amount in default net of any security realized. The Fund is managed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, through this guarantee it is easy For commercial banks to loan to farmers not fearing
Agricultural Credit Support Scheme (ACSS) ACSS funds are disbursed to farmers and agro-allied entrepreneurs at a single-digit interest rate of 8.0 percent. At the commencement of the project support, banks will grant loans to qualified applicants at 14.0 per cent interest rate. Applicants who pay back their facilities on schedule are to enjoy a rebate of 6.0 per cent, thus reducing the effective rate of interest to be paid by farmers to 8.0 per cent.
Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) This credit scheme is specifically targeted to finance the country’s agricultural value chain (production, processing, storage and marketing). The maximum interest rate to the borrower under the scheme shall not exceed 9 per cent, inclusive of all charges.
Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending ( NIRSAL) Risk is the single-most important factor that prevents banks from lending to agriculture. To change banks’ perception that agriculture is a high-risk sector, NIRSAL has a USD300 Million Risk-Sharing Facility that it uses to share their losses on agricultural loans through Credit Risk Guarantees. NIRSAL shares risk with banks ranging from 30% to 75% of face value depending on segment.
This also includes a guarantee fee of 1% per annum on outstanding protected principal and interest. Up to 40% of interest cost rebated to select value chain participants every 90 days if loan remains in good standing (no partial or full default). All crops, livestock and related supportive economic activity across the value chain are supported by this facility.
The news is that government is willing and doing everything to encourage farming in Nigeria because that’s where the country straight lies. Nigeria is endowed with arable land and fresh water resources when viewed as a whole with approximately 61 million hectares of the land cultivable while the total renewable water resources is about 280 km3/year; which include river Niger, river Benue, lake Chad, Osun river, Hadejia River, Bonny river and a host of others. The major soil types in Nigeria, according to FAO soil taxonomist are fluvisols, regosols, gleysols, acrisols, ferrasols, alisols, lixisols, cambisols, luvisols, nitosols, arenosols and vertisols. These soil types vary in their potential for agricultural use according to FAO.
Nigerian soils can be classified into groups made up of four (climatic) zones that are soil associations. The groups are:
- Northern zone of sandy soils
- Interior zone of laterite soils
- Southern belt of forest soils
- Alluvial soils Zones
Northern zone of sandy soils: This area lies in the very northern parts of the country. This area lies in the extreme north with proximity to the fringes of the fast- encroaching Sahara desert. It is characterized by soils formed by deposition of sand by the wind. These soils might have been formed from wind-sorted desert sands that accumulated over long periods of time when the Sahara desert encroached several kilometers south of its present limits. The soils of this zone are very good in the production of groundnut, sorghum, cowpea, and millet.
Interior zone of laterite soils: This zone is made up of a mixture of sand and clay. They are grey to black clay, poorly drained and seasonally flooded forming the “fadama”. The Biu Plateau has rich soil that is productive and offers prospects for the expansion of the areas of cotton production, soybeans, yam and other legumes.
Southern belt of forest soils: Soils in this zone broadly represent those of the humid, tropical forest climate zones of the south where the wet season is long, the harmattan season short and forest cover is dense. Local soil types depend largely on parent rock; where the underlying rocks are granite or clay, the soils is a rich clayey loam. These soils are very good in growing crops like cocoa, oil palm, rubber, Cassava.
Zone of alluvial soils: These soils are found along the flooded plains of rivers, deltas, along the coastal flats. This zone extends from the coastal inland and runs along the valleys of the Niger and the Benue rivers, thus cutting across the vegetational zones. Soils in this zone are characteristic of fresh-water soil of grey to white sand, grey clay and sandy clay with humid topsoil. Another group consists of brownish to black saline mangrove soils, with a mat of rootlets. This soil type is very good for rice etc.
FARM EQUIPMENT
BAN will also help in securing farming equipment. This may be achieved through the federal and state government partnership with the support of any of the credit schemes. Through this farm equipment can be acquired or leased.
MARKET
Demand for COCONUT OIL and other products derived from coconut are high both locally and internationally. A farmer may decide to add value and export or sell locally depending on his business plan.
SECURITY
Security of the farm is of utmost importance, thus adequate security must be put in place to eliminate/ reduce pilferage in the farm.
COCONUT VALUE CHAIN
We will not only guide you on COCONUT farming. We will introduce you to COCONUT business value chain depending on your interest. Even though this requires huge investment, the return is enormous and the market potential is also huge.
If you are desirous of farming with minimal discomfort and also wants to stay out of other losses that might result due to lack of planning talk to us at BAN.