Malaysian coconuts

The increasing affluence of Malaysia was evident to Dan when he attended the National Coconut Conference there in July. High urban incomes are giving coconut farmers high prices for their nuts but this causes headaches for coconut cream processors who want more nuts at lower prices. Dan also met a great entrepreneur creatively turning coconut waste into useful products and also a small business doing well using our DME equipment.

The Malaysian coconut industry is caught in a dilemma: area and output have declined and coconut prices have risen sharply, partly because many areas of coconut have been replanted with Oil Palm. The government thinks that the country should be self-sufficient in coconuts. “If we could get the smallholder yields to half that of the estates, our supply problems would be solved.” Estates have 3% of the area under coconuts but produce 20% of Malaysia’s output. Smallholders only get about 1 ton (about 5,000 nuts) per hectare which they sell in fresh food markets for good prices. In the meantime coconut cream processors have to import their nuts from Thailand and Indonesia.

Dan met Dr Justino Arboleda the CEO of the company that won the 2008 Shell and BBC Global Challenge. This company has creatively turned coconut waste into many useful products. Making coir-fibre from coconut husks is an amazing zero waste story based around a simple machine invented for separating (coir) fibre from coconut husks – usually considered to be the ‘waste’ by-product of coconut production. The demand for rubberised coir-fibre mattresses in an increasingly affluent China has now skyrocketed. China needs 5 million new mattresses per month which bodes well for this industry! In addition, there is the increasing demand for the fibre for luxury car seats and mats for erosion control. A further by-product is coir-dust which is used as “Coco-peat” for potting mixes (now widely available in Australia from nurseries and hardware stores – we used it to start our tomatoes this year!). The wide range of valuable new uses of this ‘waste’ product is quite extraordinary and reminds me once again that this really is the Tree of Life.

At the other end of the scale, Dan visited a young couple who run a very smart DME operation. They go from production of the oil to final packaging and marketing all in the one building. The floor was fully tiled and they have semi-automated equipment for filling their 120ml bottles of virgin coconut oil. They had managed all of this with minimal training. During my short visit I was able to help them increase their efficiency and production significantly. Their secondary products were very tasty biscuits and clear sealed cups of Nata da Coco jelly cubes (like Turkish delight) made from the coconut water. Delicious! top

Dan’s Solomons safari

As we set off from the west coast of Choiseul at 6am on that Sunday morning, having visiting DME sites impacted by the April 2007 tsunami, our helmsman told us “The boat ride to Gizo will take one and a half hours in good weather. If the weather is not so good it will usually take an hour longer.” He failed to say how long it would take if we actually had bad weather.

It was 7am and one hour into our voyage before a weak sun peeped out from behind cloud-covered Choiseul. The sea was choppy around a longer swell with an easterly wind increasing in strength. The progress of our 22ft boat was slow and we were quickly soaked. With four other passengers I was facing the stern and being pounded by spray. At least the spray was warm. My life jacket was a godsend. It was a real rollercoaster, white-knuckle, ride with bone jarring crashes over the waves. Surely the gravest danger here is spinal injury or neck whiplash. I forgot the itchy sandfly bites on my legs and had a bruised butt. Frigate birds wheeled across the waves.

We originally intended to make our first landing at Kolumbungara but this became impossible because of the direction of the swell and the strong wind. The sea was “smiling” i.e. show its teeth! We were forced to make for Vella Lavella.

As we got close to the coast we headed into wind towards the eastern end of the island where, my guide shouts to me, “We have ‘cousins’”. We make landfall in a beautiful little bay at 9AM in bright sunshine but with a 25+ knot easterly wind blowing. We are indeed soaked. On a scale of 1 to 10 in difficulty, our helmsman ranks this 3 hour jaunt as 6 and we are only half way! We now have to wait out the weather.

We make good use of the time in washing ourselves and our clothes under a stand-pipe as a young mother bathes her baby in a pail.

At 1615 the decision is made to take advantage of the high tide and make for Gizo. We pack up and are underway at 1630. It should take 2 hours.

We hug the south east coast of Vella Lavella riding the swell. ‘Hug’ means that we are between 50 and 100 metres off the coconut-lined shore.

We pass a resort and safe anchorage at Liapari Island at 1815 and head due east for Gizo – the passengers looking towards the lowering sun. The sea is still quite rough but we are heading into the wind so the spray is not too much of a problem. The sun sets and we are invited to face forwards for the last part of the voyage searching for the navigation channel markers and pointing to those which we see! The gloom gets ever darker but now we see the flickering lights of the town. We reach the wharf at 1900 hrs!! Not the best plan without any lit beacons.

So now you know: Choiseul to Gizo can take 13 hours in bad weather! top

The War Against Saturated Fat

The war against saturated fats started way back in the late 1950’s.

A researcher by the name of Ancel Keys was investigating cardiovascular disease. His goal was to prove eating high amounts of saturated fat was linked to heart disease.

He published the “7 Countries Study,” successfully showing fat as the major cause of heart problems.

His research was praised and soon became gospel. He even became known as the “father” of the Lipid Hypothesis. That’s the theory that high cholesterol causes heart disease… and in turn, eating a lot of fat causes high cholesterol.

But there was a slight problem with Keys’ research. Something he deliberately ignored. Keys only chose to use data from seven countries that matched exactly what he wanted to prove.

The truth is there were at least a half-dozen other countries with examples that proved the exact opposite. Countries where people routinely ate tons of fat – yet rarely experienced heart disease. When it didn’t fit his hypothesis, he ignored the data.

Unfortunately, Keys’ research caught on over the years. One group in particular — the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) – ran with Keys’ ideas. They launched what began an all out-war against all saturated fats. In fact, CSPI coined the term “artery-clogging” fat.

Sadly, coconut oil got caught up in it all.

Decades ago, food manufacturers used tropical oils like coconut oil in their baked goods. Movie theatres used it for their popcorn.

CSPI argued that coconut oil was terrible for your health. It was laden with saturated fat.

Instead, they demanded that these companies use vegetable oils instead (this of course benefited the American Soybean Association, who in the past has made generous donations to CSPI).

The food industry gave in. Coconut oil became taboo. Even the government joined in.

The National Cholesterol Education Program even issued a statement, encouraging margarine and partially hydrogenated fats, stating that “…coconut oil … should be avoided.”

Today, we know better. top

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