Coconut Development Centre to be set up in Ariyadhoo

Maldivian coconut palms are one of the country’s signature trees that can be spotted everywhere from the streets of the City and islands to the national emblem of the country. While a big part of Maldivian culture is surrounded by fisheries and agriculture, Maldivian coconut palms continue to face major threats due to the coconut hispid beetle infestation that continues to fester and attack the palms in the Maldives. Records from the Environment Ministry show that the beetles were first introduced to the country in the late 1990s, from ornamental palms imported from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Since then, the Maldivian Government has been tackling the issue, trying to eradicate the coconut hispid infestation in the country. In a move towards cultivating palm trees in the country, the Maldives Caibent has now decided to use the island of A. DH Ariyadhoo to run a national programme focused on cultivating coconut palms. The uninhabited island will be utilised under the ‘Coconut Development Centre’ program that is going to be managed by the Agriculture Ministry of the Maldives. Through this program, the ministry will be able to produce genetically improved coconut palms on the island - which will not only increase the number of healthy coconut palms in the Maldives but may also bring about a solution to the problems of the coconut hispid beetle. 

In addition to this, the program will also be a gateway towards ensuring that genetically improved coconut palms are cultivated and distributed across the islands of the Maldives - resolving the issues surrounding the lack of supplies of coconuts in the Maldives. In addition to producing and providing a variety of palm trees to different islands, the Ministry is also planning to identify the different diseases faced by the palm trees and figure out biological controls that will prevent such diseases from spreading in the country,