A new four-year research project
aims to develop the technologies, processes and expertise to produce high
quality veneer and veneer products from senile coconut trees.
SPC’s Land
Resources Division (LRD) has teamed up with the University of Tasmania’s Centre
for Sustainable Architecture with Wood (CSAW) and the Australian Department
of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI) to look
into the development of high quality veneer and other products from coconut
wood.
The
forestry departments of Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands and several industrial
companies in the region are also collaborating in the project, which is funded
by the
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
Speaking at the inception meeting
held in Suva, Fiji, the acting Director of LRD, Inoke Ratukalou, said that
coconut plays an important role in the socio-cultural and economic life of the
Pacific Islanders. ‘It is one of the most important crops in the Pacific
Islands, contributing to food and nutritional security, and the socio-economic
well-being of our people.
‘Coconut trees also play an
important role in the Pacific Islands climate change adaptation strategies and
therefore SPC will continue to support the development of this crop,’ he added.
This project, he explained, is a
follow-up of an earlier ACIAR-funded project on Improving value and marketability of coconut wood, which aimed at
the production of flooring from solid coconut wood for the high quality
hardwood flooring market overseas.
‘While that project was able to
identify the technology and process required to develop an excellent flooring
product, a major issue was the low recovery of the required high density
materials, which has implications throughout the supply chain.
Ratukalou said that it was with
the flooring project in mind that the idea of investigating the use of senile
coconut palms for veneer was born. ‘We
are grateful to our partners in Australia for further developing this idea into
a full project proposal, and to ACIAR for agreeing to fund it.’
The four-year project will
receive total funding of AUD 1.3 million and is envisaged to assist in coconut
rehabilitation work. Finding uses for senile coconut stems has been
problematic.
It is hoped that this income-generating veneer project will
encourage communities to replant their old coconut plantations and enhance
livelihoods in the Pacific region.
[Ends]
(For further information please contact Vinesh Prasad
on telephone (679)3370733, email LRD Help Desk on email lrdhelpdesk@spc.int or visit
the SPC website: www.spc.int.)
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