THE Coconut Industry Board (CIB), in a bid to improve its management and monitoring of activities in that subsector, will be creating a database that farmers can access for information and communicating with the organisation.

General manager of the CIB Shaun Cameron said the organisation has partnered with the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) department at the National Works Agency to create a database that will provide information on the different species of coconuts in Jamaica as well indicate where they can be found, the soil type needed to grow them, among other things.

“We’re planning to have that hosted on their external platform,” he told Jamaica Observer, adding that in the meantime the CIB will be “building out our ICT [information and communications technology] infrastructure here because my vision is to have a coconut database that maps the entire island”.

The database the general manager has in mind is one by which farmers and anyone else interested in the coconut industry can “come on our website and click our geospatial map and be able to bring up the parish they’re in”, he explained. As such, it will facilitate access to information in a timely manner, irrespective of the device they use — smartphone, tablet, laptop, or personal computer.

Moreover, Cameron said the database should become a resource centre for both farmers based locally and those abroad. After completion of the database and the GIS mapping exercise, the GIS department will transfer the technology to the CIB, which will then become the host of the data.

“I believe in data-driven organisation and that’s where I’m transforming the Coconut Industry Board to, because… my background is in information technology and I believe in working smarter, not harder,” he told Business Observer.

The general manager is also eyeing the development of an app, specifically for the coconut industry, which will be an extension of the database and allow coconut farmers to educate themselves and keep in contact with the CIB. In particular, the app should help farmers with proper coconut nursery management, instruct them in how to identify and treat with the lethal yellowing disease that has devasted the industry from the 1970s, and assist in identifying the various types of coconut trees.

When asked about the CIB’s investment in this technological transformation initiative, Cameron noted that he has budgeted in excess of $10 million for the build out.

“We have spent $5 million already at the board, restructuring our infrastructure and recabling [our network], implementing a server room, and buying a brand new server to host our accounting functions,” he shared.

His next move, he said, would be purchasing a server with a capacity for more than 12 terabytes to host the CIB’s database, and then partnering with developers to create the app. However, at the time of the interview Cameron had yet to receive the cost for developing an app for the coconut industry.

What’s more, the general manager said the CIB has been working with Yello Media to revamp its website.

Responding to a question about funding the infrastructure, Cameron said the CIB is a “self-funding entity so it will come from our internal funds”. Pressed further about receiving financial support from the Government, he said the organisation has not received any subventions.

“I should point out that the Coconut Industry Board (since 1945) has been self-funding, and a lot of the research that we do is based on our local funds. How we supply the industry is from our local funds because we run as a business and we try to maintain, not necessarily our profitability but our relevance in the industry by supporting our farmers to grow,” he outlined.

“As we move into agro-processing we have to be more stringent and fiscally prudent in how we manage our resources to grow the industry by adapting to technology and innovative ways in which we can reach our farmers,” Cameron continued.

Commenting on the buy-in he has received from farmers in the coconut industry the general manager said that one of the decisions he made on taking up his current position was hosting town hall meetings with farmers to introduce the CIB team, including researchers, to farmers and to get “feedback” on the direction in which they believe the board should head.

While noting that farmers are moving away from traditional agriculture, Cameron highlighted that farmers in the coconut industry are now coming from the business sector or are young people who are legacy farmers.

“…And they are much more tech-savvy and demand that Coconut Industry Board transform and be able to support technology and ease of access going forward,” he explained further.

“So the farmers are more sophisticated now and want to know from a research standpoint how they benefi, and from the board’s standpoint what we are doing for the industry to help them grow their business and venture into agro-processing,” he added.

Based on Cameron’s assessment, the coconut industry has benefited from the youthfulness of some of the farmers entering the profession, though he could not provide an estimate of the number of farmers under 40.

Notwithstanding, encouraged by the number of young farmers, he said the CIB has approached the Jamaica 4-H Clubs to partner in recruiting farmers in this age demograhic.