Solomon Islands

The Honiara DME unit

The Oil Store

Shipping a full container

KPSI Team Honiara with their APFED Award

Read about biofuel in the Solomon Islands here

The Solomon Islands "empowered"

Once crippled economically and trying in vain to make copra pay, these people now enjoy the benefits of having a regular cash flow in the villages. This has come with the production of DME virgin coconut oil which has none of the backbreaking work associated with copra. The empowering of the people of the Solomon Islands is taking place, as is shown by this picture of a fully loaded shipping container of DME oil.

In June 2005, with the assistance of KPSI (Kokonut Pacific Solomon Islands), two of the Solomon Islanders were able to come to Australia to meet the team here and to discuss the triumphs and problems that they were experiencing in this new venture. Their visit included a trip to the Kokonut Pacific warehouse to see their oil being moved on to the next stage. All in all it was a very productive time and many useful improvements will result from the exchange of ideas. After two days of meetings, the visitors were able to see the sights of the national capital. However, their most lasting impression will probably be the freezing cold of Canberra's winter, coming as they did from the very hot and humid tropics.

Great news to share

We are excited by the impact that DME Extra Virgin Coconut Oil is having on the producers, and by the appreciation of so many customers.

In the Solomon Islands a whole infrastructure has been put in place with a training unit in Honiara and clusters of units in two Provinces. The people describe the impact as a "miracle". We are pleased that this DME Extra Virgin Coconut Oil has been granted full Organic Certification by NASAA and NOP which is also certified by NASAA.

The Solomons has been a great step of faith for us. It has been critical to our journey (see Breaking chains and Dan's coconut odyssey). In February 2004 Kokonut Pacific, a number of farmers and a local firm agreed to implement the DME System. By June 'sheds' were built, the equipment had arrived and our Appropriate Technology engineer was ready to train operators or, more significantly, to train Trainers who would supervise future building and extension services. In addition to an operational DME site in the capital, Honiara, we found an ideal HQ in a warehouse within a stone's throw of the harbour.

Right from the beginning, we organised the DME System so as to achieve excellent quality control and to gain Organic Certification as quickly as possible. This was critical to marketing the virgin coconut oil in the international market. The team worked hard to conform to the stringent requirements of NASAA. In one sense this was easy because all the coconut farmers live in perfectly natural environments and have never seen — or heard of — chemical sprays or fertilizers. It was very much a "wild harvest" situation. The NASAA inspector was very impressed. The first shipment of fully Certified Organic DME Extra Virgin Coconut Oil left in Mid-August.

All eleven units were in operation by October and there are now regular monthly shipments of this beautiful oil.

The impact on the local communities has been stunning. At least 300 people now have regular employment where before they had none.

Solomons Strike Gold!

31st August 2006. A Solomon Islands company has won first prize, it was announced at the Asia Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED) which met in Adelaide last week.

The winner of the Ryutaro Hashimoto APFED Gold Award was Kokonut Pacific Solomon Islands Ltd for its project “Rehabilitating a rural economy with virgin coconut oil production”.

Mr Colin Dyer, CEO of Kokonut Pacific Solomon Islands (KPSI) Ltd (pictured front right) explained that KPSI was a joint venture with a Canberra-based company, Kokonut Pacific (Aust) Pty Ltd. Although only two years old, KPSI has installed 13 village-level virgin coconut oil (VCO) units in four Provinces. Because coconuts are produced throughout the year, the project has created permanent rural jobs for 400 men and women supporting about 3,200 people.

KPSI is helping ‘kick-start’ an ailing economy and has already exported 120 tons of Organically Certified VCO to markets in Australia, Europe and the USA. Sold as an up-market virgin edible oil in the health. Sold as an up-market virgin edible oil in the health food