Kokonut Pacific News

2010: The Solomons DME system continues to grow

Along with natural expansion, of KPSI,  other donor organisations such as CSP are helping to expand the DME concept. Regular producers meeting are now held and a number of extension worker travel regularly to visit the producers and discuss their needs.

The producers grow their own nuts or buy them in from neighbouring farmers and this helps to spread the prosperity to others. The extension workers provide vital communication between the remote farmer and the knowledge base at HQ. They also help to organise meetings of interested parties, help with setting up of a framework that the producers can continue to use, take orders for spare parts and note the general morale and concerns of the producers. Helping farmers understand their financial position is vital where money is relatively new concept but is a vital requirement for school fees, transport and power.  The extension worker becomes a regular visitor and a part of the local community.

 Regular news letters are produced at HQ and distributed with the containers on their round trips to Honiara and back. This keeps producers in the loop and regular extension visits help headquarters to spot and assist struggling farmers as soon as possible. Internal markets are steadily growing and Kokonut Pacific Solomon Islands is now recognised as major player in the development of income generating assistance to the Solomon Islands.

Dan’s Solomons safari 2009

As we set off from the west coast of Choiseul at 6am on that Sunday morning, having visiting DME sites impacted by the April 2007 tsunami, our helmsman told us “The boat ride to Gizo will take one and a half hours in good weather. If the weather is not so good it will usually take an hour longer.” He failed to say how long it would take if we actually had bad weather   full story...

Extension Training visit Feb-March 2009

In early 2007 Chris Maina embarked on an installation and extension worker training tour spending four weeks travelling the island of Malaita from end to end. New units were launched and existing ones upgraded and much training and assistance was given to all. New software was introduced for processing the extension worker visits at HQ. New trial equipment for testing was also placed in service with various producers for in field testing.
Expanding the local market is of vital importance to avoid the unreliable fluctuations of the export market. As producers gain and understanding they produce more oil of export quality and this is a also a better product for the local market. Wider use is being made of the by product and here we se pigs being raised on the meal.
A new unit was completed at Hauhui final training given Suraio. Tawaiseu in the south has a vital village and exuberant team. The need for regular extension worker visits was again reinforced and there are now a three trained extension workers and a construction crew that regularly visit the far reaches of the Solmons encouraging producers.

The trip was well worth while and the usual travelling across the open Pacific Ocean in open boats, sleeping on village floors with mosquitoes and using the open air amenities kept Chris alert.

Kenya and Mozambique

In Aug-Sept 2007 Dan travelled to Africa to tour Kenya and Mozambique installations. None of these units utilised an on the ground trainer and Dan was able to institute some guidance that doubled the production rate in one case . There are 6 units on the African continent, three in Kenya, one in Tanzania, one in Mozambique and one in South Africa.

Unfortunately Dan was struck down with Malaria just at the end of the Africa tour as he was about to head to the UK and spent a month in Nairobi hospital. Fortunately Dan grew up in Kenya and help was at hand leading to a full recovery and many more unexpected adventures.

photo: Coast Coconut Farms on the Kenya Coast

Aceh Indonesia

Following the  tsunami in Aceh the Indonesian team went to Aceh and installed a unit at Pide that has now become a place of hope for the local youth and one of the most successful installations in Indonesia. Just 2 months after it gave traumatized youth  something to do – somewhere warm to sleep even attracted local government attention and gave the youth back their self esteem – as well as oil, soap, fuel and other local needs. There are now 6 units in Indonesia, one in Aceh, one in the mountains of Bali, one on the island of Flores, one on the island of Selayar and two on Sulawesi.

India

In 2006 Following three years of negotiations  twenty two sites were installed in Kerela and one Tamil Nadu. Each site consisted of four regular sized DME units. Six of these sites, comprising of 32 press units, belong to the SUBICSHA organisation.  SUBICSHA empowers women to start group community businesses all based on the coconut. Already, it has spawned a large number of beneficiaries providing jobs directly to 4,000 women and indirectly to 3,000 women. Five years later, SUBICSHA has developed 40 separate products from coconut. Chris did a four week installation trip in early 2006 and Chris and Dan returned for the inauguration and final training in late 2006.

Photo: Crowd gather for opening day at Perambra headquarters

Kokonut Pacific sponsors Solomon Islands soccer team

 Kokonut Pacific is sponsoring the Solomon Islands Under-14 Indoor Soccer team. The tournament is being held in Canberra 8-13 2006 January in the National Titles. They are seeded One and the hot favorites to win their age group as under 14’s . If you are in Canberra, come and support these youngsters!

Solomon Islands Update

 No doubt you will have heard plenty of distressing stories in recent times coming out of the Solomons. This really saddens us, given our relationship with the people there. Unfortunately it is the everyday people who lose out with the political problems so evident there. The motto of the Solomon Islands is “To lead is to serve”. Sadly this is not what we are seeing at the moment. Despite this not all is lost, and there are some good things still happening there. Below is one such story, recently printed in the Solomon Star that we have been a part of. Your ongoing support is greatly appreciated and needed now more than ever.

Coconut oil producers form an association

THE country’s first certified organic virgin coconut oil producers’ conference was held in Honiara at the end of August. The conference, attended by 35 producers from five islands in the country, discussed topics on quality control, money management, virgin coconut oil products, bio-fuel and staff management of this new and growing industry. Guest speakers at the conference were from the department of agriculture and livestock, department of planning and aid coordination and Kokonut Pacific Australia, which managed the international marketing of the oil. Following the conference the participants formed a Certified Organic Virgin Coconut Oil Producers Association (COVCOPA).

Kokonut Pacific Solomon Islands chief executive officer Colin Dyer said the formation of the association is a great “maturing of the industry”. “The formation of the Certified Organic Virgin Coconut Oil Producers Association shows the confidence that these rural producers have in their future,” Mr Dyer said.

Mr Dyer said producers need to stay together and focused on the markets already achieved while developing further opportunities in the domestic markets. “These village entrepreneurs are learning rapidly of the challenges of rural development and are taking positive steps to keep moving forward,” he said. The association is now under the care of an interim committee, who will seek formal registration and develop a draft constitution as soon as possible. The conference was funded by EU Micro Project. Participants hoped that the conference would become an annual event as they have gained so much insight and understanding from the guest speakers including Dr Dan from Kokonut Pacific Australia, as well as from each other. read the full Producer story here also see the biofuel page

This article is adapted form an article printed in the Solomon Star 5 September, 2006

Solomons Strikes Gold!

A Solomon Islands company has won first prize, it was announced at the Asia Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED) which met in Adelaide last week.

The winner of the Ryutaro Hashimoto APFED Gold Award was Kokonut Pacific Solomon Islands Ltd for its project “Rehabilitating a rural economy with virgin coconut oil production”. Mr. Colin Dyer, CEO of Kokonut Pacific Solomon Islands (KPSI) Ltd (pictured front right) explained that KPSI was a joint venture with a Canberra-based company, Kokonut Pacific (Aust) Pty Ltd. Although only two years old, KPSI has installed 13 village-level virgin coconut oil (VCO) units in four Provinces. Because coconuts are produced throughout the year, the project has created permanent rural jobs for 400 men and women supporting about 3,200 people.

KPSI is helping ‘kick-start’ an ailing economy and has already exported 120 tons of Organically Certified VCO to markets in Australia, Europe and the USA. Sold as an up-market virgin edible oil in the health. Sold as an up-market virgin edible oil in the health food

KPSI Team Honiara with their APFED Award

Visit to the Solomon Islands August 2006

Kokonut Pacific founder and Managing Director Dr Dan Etherington, Production Manager Ian Gray and Financial Director Greg Wright spent a couple of weeks enjoying the heat and humidity of the tropics and dodging mosquitoes! They helped to revamp the facilities at the Honiara Headquarters in order to cater for increased oil sales, and they spent time in the villages inspecting equipment and hearing stories of  their joys and struggles. The commercial production of coconut oil is having a very positive impact on these communities. They still face many struggles, with limited communication, poor transport, inadequate schools and the lack of medical services. But it was inspiring to see the efforts of the last two years bearing fruit. As demand for the oil increases, more producers can come on stream, (there is a waiting list) thus assisting more of these island communities. Your support in purchasing our niulife extra virgin coconut oil is vital for the continued success of these farmers.

Dr Dan Etherington, Jimmy Kutu and Ian Gray in Maoa.

May 2004 Solomon Islands

In May 2004 Chris installed the first units in the Solomon islands for the fledgling company Kokonut Pacific Solomon Islands, KPSI. This was at the time attached to the sawmill property in Honiara as the owners of the sawmill were keen to be associated with this kind of self sufficient technology and they were very familiar with the goodness of the coconut. Following the successful training and inauguration of the Honiara unit Chris travelled to Malaita and installed the first unit there at Asimana. These installations have now become foundation history for KPSI.

New Press for Fiji

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