INTERNATIONAL COCONUT FORUM - Cairns, AUS.

Coconut Revival – New Possibilities For the Tree of Life

Further to my post yesterday. An exciting development in favor of revitalizing interest in the coconut industry comes by way of the INTERNATIONAL COCONUT FORUM being held in Cairns, North Queensland, Australia on Nov 22 – 24th, 2005.

This event is sponsored in part by the Queensland University and the Australian Governments program, AusAID. Objectives of the forum include:

1. Discussing strategic issues in the development of coconut industries of the region especially related to new products and markets.
2. Discussing the past current and future international support for coconut research and development.
3. Discussing the potential benefits to Australia and cooperative efforts with producers elsewhere especially in the light of increased interest in coconut as a health food.

It is so exciting to see this development as it is focused energy in the right direction which can benefit everyone from the growers (up till now, generally poorly paid) right on through to the end user who is now armed with solid, scientific research to dispel propaganda used in the past to quash this valuable product as a competitor in the vegetable oil market. Bruce Fife’s work (mentioned in yesterday’s post) has done much to bring the true value of the coconut to the fore.

For more information about the International Coconut Forum , contact Dr. Yohannes Samosir on + 61 7 3365 9750, or email y.samosir@uq.edu.au