Copra Farmersin theMarshall Islands.ppt

Copra Farmersin theMarshall Islands The Early Years… Copra Farming: Volatile yet Popular Non-Public Occupations Trends: 1967 to 1999 Total Farmers Female Participation Top Ten Atolls * A Brief Statistical Analysis of What Is Copra? 2. Then it is dried, usually in the sun, so that it loses most of its water content. 1. The flesh or meat of the coconut must first be separated from the shell. 3. Once the flesh is sufficiently dried, it is bagged, weighed, and sold. 4. Coconut oil is extracted from the copra at a processing plant (Tobolar) and exported for use in an array of products. Copra is the dried out flesh of coconuts, from which coconut oil is extracted. The copra making process (simplified): 5. The byproduct of this process is often made into copra feed, which is often exported as well. 2 of 15 (source: Spennemann, Dirk H.R. (2000). Historic Copra Production of the Marshall Islands: Annual Production Albury: [ISSN: XXX XXX XXX] URL: http:/.au/marshall/html/copra/annprodcopra.html) Marshallese have made a living from copra farming now for over 100 years. The first real income-earning activity in the islands, the copra trade was first introduced by Germans in the late 1800s and quickly gained popularity throughout the Marshalls. By the turn of the century, hundreds of people on dozens of atolls in both the Ralik and Ratak were actively producing and selling or trading copra. By 1910, annual production had already reached an impressive 3,288,980 kilograms, or about 3,618 short tons. 3 of 15 Of the 7,035 people employed in the non-public sector in 1999, over 1,700 (24%) declared “coconut farmer” as their main occupation. Despite the high volatility in earnings, copra farming remains a popular economic activity among Marshallese, particularly in the outer atolls, where economic options are still quite limited. This makes copra farming the largest single occupation group in the RMI. Copra farming has proven to be a volatile occupation. A farmer’s earnings are a