The Coconut Palm: Prosperity or Poverty?

Paper prepared for TAC by G. J. Persley of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) on the current status and future trends of coconut in the global fats and oil market. An overview of national coconut research programs reveals coconuts as a neglected area, and based on their importance as a subsistence and cash crop, and their role in farming systems, Persley proposes the establishment of an International Coconut Research Council. This paper provides an extended background for a shorter document on coconut also by Persley of the same date.Agenda document, TAC 52. Coconut was also discussed at TAC46 and TAC 50.