Public goes nuts over CIB sale

Following strong response to the pop-up sale at its offices at 18 Waterloo Road, St Andrew recently, the Coconut Industry Board (CIB) is now taking stock of its inventory with plans for another sale very soon, General Manager Shaun Cameron told The Gleaner.

The sale, dubbed, ‘Seeding for the Future’, was intended to help offload the excess seedlings the CIB had stockpiled in the wake of declining demand.

At $200 for Green Malayan Dwarf and Maypan seedlings; 50 dried coconuts going for $4,000 (bulk purchase only), three dried coconuts for $250, a pound of shredded coconut for $250 and one pound diced coconut for $250, very little was still on offer when The Gleaner turned up about 2:30 in the afternoon.

“Water ran out quite early,” Cameron said. He explained that it was due to the impact of the intense drought on the coconut trees, which resulted in much smaller nuts, causing a lower volume of coconut water being available.

GLUT OF SEEDLINGS

This usually happens in times of drought, so we are trying to work with a couple farmers and I am trying to reach out to Jamaica Producers because they have a coconut orchard and a couple farmers in St Catherine, based on the fact that they might have better irrigation systems and so would have fuller nuts and see if we can get a consistent supply.”

It was the glut of seedlings which prompted the CIB to host the sale, trying to get members of the general public, as well as farmers who are not registered with the board, to buy some of the excess.

Meanwhile, Cameron disclosed that the CIB is in the process of restructuring, with the aim of being agile enough to respond to the changing needs of the market and to meet the anticipated increased demand for its goods and services.

However, it was evident once news of the sale got out, that the public support was going to be strong.

“Throughout the week you had people who called in and pre-ordered. You had some Seventh-day Adventists who would not have been able to attend today (Saturday, March 4), so they came in on Friday and purchased, and then the majority of persons came in from early and capitalised on the initiative. So we have to now look at our stock and continue the sale and it will now be more focused on seedlings and dried coconuts, Cameron disclosed.