The Tree of Life
The coconut palm is called the "Tree of Life" because it can
meet so many basic human needs — for food, shelter, and fuel. Did
you know that among its many remarkable properties, each coconut palm
produces a bunch of coconuts every month? So if a family owns 250 palms
(on about 2 hectares), it has a constant supply of nuts all year round.
As a low maintenance, subsistence crop it is so much a part of the
tropical scene that it is often taken for granted. However, as a commercial
it is in big trouble. The main "cash crop" is copra.
This is the dried white flesh of the nut. It takes months for this raw
to reach the industrial processing plants in Europe or Asia. By then
the copra is very dirty and usually rancid so that when the oil is extracted
it has to be highly processed for edible use. (For details, see the
Direct Micro Expelling (DME®) uses an entirely different approach.
It takes the processing right back to the farm level. It enables rural
families on tropical coasts to produce pure virgin oil within one hour
of opening their coconuts. These coconuts are grown and processed organically,
without the use of fertilisers or other chemical inputs. Some DME sites
now have Organic Certification.
Many tropical coastal communities are the custodians
of unique endangered cultures, languages, reefs and rainforests.
The coconut is the most sustainable agricultural resource of these
communities. DME bypasses arduous copra-making and provides rural
people with meaningful employment, a regular income and enhanced
living standards. So, in buying this oil, you are not just getting
a premium product but also supporting the livelihood of many island
peoples and their environments.
Flow charts showing a current island scenario and a sustainable development scenario (569Kb pdf)
and DME® a Pictorial Overview (368Kb pdf)