Copra production is on a potentially record-setting pace in the Marshall Islands.
Bags of copra - dried coconut meat - are lifted from the hold of a government field trip vessel for delivery to the Tobolar Copra Processing Authority plant in Majuro. Photo: Giff Johnson
In the first nine months of the current fiscal year there have been 5,808.53 tons delivered to the Tobolar Copra Processing Authority in Majuro.
This is higher than the full year totals in five of the last 10 fiscal years.
The production is being spurred by the government's subsidised high price of 50 cents per pound.
Tobolar Copra Processing Authority statistics show that the first quarter of the fiscal year (October to December) generated the whopping total of 2,556.94 tons - possibly the highest quarterly total ever.
Copra production at Arno and Ailinglaplap atolls led the country, with the two top producers accounting for over 2,000 tons, or 35 percent of the crop.
