Bwa-yo - Société Audubon Haiti

80 Kokoye
Figure 10.2 The most common variety in Haiti
is the Jamaican Tall. Inset - Mature greenish
fruit.
Figure 10.3 Malayan Dwarf specimen with
coconut cluster. Inset - Mature apricot color of
the Malayan Red Dwarf fruit.
pure stands along the beaches (Fig.
10.5). Though it naturally tolerates
a salty environment, coconuts
require good drainage and fresh
water to grow well, usually with an
annual rainfall above 1000 mm. The
Jamaican Tall is broadly adapted to
the calcareous soils of the low-elevation
mountains and can be found
up to 1000 m elevation. It is scattered
throughout the lower elevations
of the mountain ranges, normally
occurring in the courtyards
associated with other timber and
fruit trees, as a boundary planting
around field gardens or along travel
routes where it has been distributed
(Fig. 10.6). The Malayan Dwarfs
are concentrated along the principal
roads of Haiti around urban areas
and small towns. Here they are
found in the vicinity of the courtyards,
occurring as 1-2 individuals
and often overtopped by Jamaican
Tall. Theobald (1989) estimated
less than I% of the coconut population
in the Fauche area was Malayan
Dwarf. However, the population
varies greatly. Fifty percent of the
coconuts tallied in the Lascahobas
region were dwarf varieties
(Campbell, 1994).
There is a wide spread among
estimates of the number of
Jamaican Tall in the country. Morin
(1977) estimated that a half million
Jamaican Tall occur in Haiti, while
the Ministry ofAgriculture estimated
that 1.5 million existed in 1978
(Wiltbank, 1982). Agricorp (1984)
tallied 137,000 coconuts in the
Plateau Central. The major coconut
growing regions, in descending
order of importance are: Cayes,
Jeremie, Petit-Goave, Cap-Haitien,
Port-au-Prince and Jacmel.