Workshop: Managing Coconut Sugar Palm Orchards to Produce High-Quality Coconut Sugar

Rationale

Coconut is an economic crop with deep ties to culture, used since ancient times. Coconuts grown in Thailand fall into two main groups. The first is tall coconuts with large fruit. In industry, besides using the mature coconut meat in sweet and savory dishes and processing it into ready-made coconut milk sold worldwide, the husk is processed into fiber for mattresses, and the shell is processed into charcoal and, at high added value, activated carbon. The second group is dwarf coconuts with small fruit, including aromatic coconut, sweet-water coconut and sugar coconut (palm sugar coconut). These are popularly eaten fresh or processed into young coconut products, coconut water, and fresh sap sugar and block sugar from the coconut flower; there is now also granulated sugar from coconut sugar for stirring into coffee. Thailand is a center of origin for coconuts with a wide diversity of varieties, each with its own distinctive traits; for example, varieties that give a large amount of fresh sap include Sarisa, Sai Bua and Thale Ba, widely grown in Samut Songkhram Province, the center of the coconut sugar industry. Although Thailand has one of the greatest coconut variety diversities in the world, most native Thai coconut varieties are now hard to find, and many are at risk of extinction.

To conserve the country's good coconut varieties and promote livelihoods for those interested in growing coconuts, especially coconuts used to make sugar, these farmers are becoming fewer every day because they are growing older and stopping sugar-making. It is therefore essential to promote and advise on growing methods and management, as well as orchard management, for interested farmers, especially for young coconut and sugar coconut, for which demand in domestic and international markets continues to rise. Coconut sugar is regarded as a high-quality sugar that is beneficial to eat, with the special property of a low glycemic index, so production of genuine coconut sugar does not meet demand. In addition, some farmers still lack the knowledge and understanding to maintain coconut sugar quality and use chemicals. This workshop therefore promotes growing and conserving coconut genetic resources and supports farmers in developing the coconut sugar occupation so that it remains part of Thai society and culture. If farmers have a stable occupation with continuous income and keep growing and using sugar coconut varieties, this will conserve coconut genetic resources in their place of origin (In situ conservation) sustainably.

Online registration (free of charge)

Link : https://goo.gl/forms/SsZUSCU9LwkGWgOl1

Date and venue

Monday 28 May 2018

Venue: Chemical-Free Coconut Sugar Group, Moo 2, Ban Bang Saphai, Nang Takhian Subdistrict, Mueang District, Samut Songkhram Province