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29-896: Madurankuli is a growing commercial and agricultural area that is known for trading activities, agriculture and exports of coconuts, copra , salts, oil, prawns and vegetables. The climate of Madurankuli is tropical with a marked dry season and temperatures averaging between 26 °C (79 °F) in January to 30 °C (86 °F) in April and May. Rainfall averages around 2,000 mm (79 in) per year. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Copra Copra (from Malayalam :  കൊപ്ര , Koppara/Kopra ; Kannada :  ಕೊಬ್ಬರಿ , Kobbari ; Telugu :  కొబ్బరి , Kobbari ; Tamil :  கொப்பரை , Kopparai )

58-592: A smallholder crop. In former years copra was collected by traders going from island to island and port to port in the Pacific Ocean but South Pacific production is now much diminished, with the exception of Papua New Guinea , the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu . Copra production begins on coconut plantations. Coconut trees are generally spaced 9 m (30 ft) apart, allowing a density of 100–160 coconut trees per hectare. A standard tree bears around 50–80 nuts

87-414: A continuous drying process. In a hybrid solar drying system, solar energy is utilized during daylight and energy from burning biomass is used when sunlight is not sufficient or during night time. Sun drying requires little more than racks and sufficient sunlight. Halved nuts are drained of water, and left with the meat facing the sky; they can be washed to remove mold -creating contaminants. After two days

116-533: A high marginal product of labor realized through the increasing number of enslaved people. Plantings of the Pará rubber tree ( Hevea brasiliensis ) are usually called plantations. Oil palm agriculture rapidly expands across wet tropical regions and is usually developed at a plantation scale. Fruit orchards are sometimes considered to be plantations. These include tobacco , sugarcane , pineapple , bell pepper , and cotton , especially in historical usage. Before

145-508: A lack of natural regeneration. The tree species used in a plantation are also an important factor. Where non-native varieties or species are grown, few native faunas are adapted to exploit these, and further biodiversity loss occurs. However, even non-native tree species may serve as corridors for wildlife and act as a buffer for native forests, reducing edge effect . Once a plantation is established, managing it becomes an important environmental factor. The most critical aspect of management

174-507: A natural forest is cleared for a planted forest, then a reduction in biodiversity and loss of habitat will likely result. In some cases, their establishment may involve draining wetlands to replace mixed hardwoods that formerly predominated with pine species. If a plantation is established on abandoned agricultural land or highly degraded land, it can increase both habitat and biodiversity. A planted forest can be profitably established on lands that will not support agriculture or suffer from

203-471: A residue in the production of copra oil is used in animal feeds. The ground cake is known as coconut or copra meal. Copra has traditionally been grated and ground, then boiled in water to extract coconut oil . It was used by Pacific island cultures and became a valuable commercial product for merchants in the South Seas and South Asia in the 1860s. Nowadays, coconut oil (70%) is extracted by crushing copra;

232-771: A source of high-quality protein for cattle, sheep and deer, because it does not break down in the rumen . Coconut oil can be extracted using either mechanical expellers or solvents ( hexane ). Mechanically expelled copra meal is of higher feeding value, because it contains typically 8–12% oil, whereas the solvent-extracted copra meal contains only 2–4% oil. Premium quality copra meal can also contain 20–22% crude protein, and <20ppb aflatoxin . High-quality copra meal contains <12% non-structural carbohydrate (NSC), which makes it well suited for feeding to horses that are prone to ulcers , insulin resistance, colic , tying up , and acidosis . Copra has been classed with dangerous goods due to its spontaneously combustive nature. It

261-649: A tool of environmental restoration . Sugar plantations were highly valued in the Caribbean by the British and French colonists in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the use of sugar in Europe rose during this period. Sugarcane is still an important crop in Cuba. Sugar plantations also arose in countries such as Barbados and Cuba because of the natural endowments that they had. These natural endowments included soil conducive to growing sugar and

290-572: A year, and average earnings in Vanuatu (1999) were US$ 0.20 per kg (one kg equals 8 nuts)—so a farmer could earn approximately US$ 120 to US$ 320 yearly for each planted hectare. Copra has since more than doubled in price, and was quoted at US$ 540 per ton in the Philippines on a CIF Rotterdam basis (US$ 0.54 per kg) by the Financial Times on 9 November 2012. In 2017 the value of global exports of copra

319-590: Is identified as a Division 4.2 substance. Plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house , grow crops including cotton , cannabis , coffee , tea , cocoa , sugar cane , opium , sisal , oil seeds , oil palms , fruits, rubber trees and forest trees. Protectionist policies and natural comparative advantage have sometimes contributed to determining where plantations are located. In modern use,

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348-424: Is sweet, soft, oily and is cream-coloured instead of being white. Coconut meat can be dried using direct heat and smoke from a fire, using simple racks to suspend the coconut over the fire. The smoke residue can help preserve the half-dried meat but the process overall suffers from unpredictable results and the risk of fires. While there are some large plantations with integrated operations, copra remains primarily

377-493: Is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from copra is rich in lauric acid , making it an important commodity in the preparation of lauryl alcohol , soaps, fatty acids, cosmetics, etc. and thus a lucrative product for many coconut-producing countries. The palatable oil cake, known as copra cake, obtained as

406-420: Is the rotation period. Plantations harvested on more extended rotation periods (30 years or more) can provide similar benefits to a naturally regenerated forest managed for wood production on a similar rotation. This is especially true if native species are used. In the case of exotic species, the habitat can be improved significantly if the impact is mitigated by measures such as leaving blocks of native species in

435-627: The American Civil War . The mild temperate climate , plentiful rainfall, and fertile soils of the Southeastern United States allowed the flourishing of large plantations, where large numbers of enslaved Africans were held captive and forced to produce crops to create wealth for a white elite . When Newfoundland was colonized by England in 1610, the original colonists were called "planters", and their fishing rooms were known as "fishing plantations". These terms were used well into

464-767: The Roman Empire , which produced large quantities of grain, wine, and olive oil for export. Plantation agriculture proliferated with the increase in international trade and the development of a worldwide economy that followed the expansion of European colonialism . Tree plantations, in the United States often called tree farms , are established for the commercial production of timber or tree products such as palm oil , coffee , or rubber . Teak and bamboo plantations in India have given good results and an alternative crop solution to farmers of central India, where conventional farming

493-540: The Southern United States from the 17th into the 20th century. The complex included everything from the main residence down to the pens for livestock . Until the abolition of slavery , such plantations were generally self-sufficient settlements that relied on the forced labor of enslaved people. Plantations are an important aspect of the history of the Southern United States , particularly before

522-493: The company store . In Brazil, a sugarcane plantation was termed an engenho ("engine"), and the 17th-century English usage for organized colonial production was "factory." Such colonial social and economic structures are discussed at Plantation economy . Sugar workers on plantations in Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean lived in company towns known as bateyes . Plantation complexes were common on agricultural plantations in

551-506: The by-product is known as copra cake or copra meal (30%). The coconut cake which remains after the oil is extracted is 18–25% protein , but contains so much dietary fiber it cannot be eaten in large quantities by humans. Instead, it is normally fed to ruminants . The production of copra – removing the shell, breaking it up, drying – is usually done where the coconut palms grow. Copra can be made by smoke drying, sun drying , or kiln drying. Hybrid solar drying systems can also be used for

580-432: The copra in the kiln, and finishing the process with sunlight. Starting with sun drying requires careful inspection to avoid contamination with mold while starting with kiln-drying can harden the meat and prevent it from drying out completely in the sun. In India, small but whole coconuts can be dried over the course of eight months to a year, and the meat inside removed and sold as a whole ball. Meat prepared in this fashion

609-505: The growth of molds and their production of aflatoxins if not dried properly. Aflatoxins can be highly toxic, and are among the most potent known natural carcinogens , particularly affecting the liver. Aflatoxins in copra cake, fed to animals, can be passed on to milk or meat from livestock, leading to human illnesses. Copra meal is used as fodder for horses and cattle. Its high oil and protein levels are fattening for stock. The protein in copra meal has been heat treated and provides

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638-539: The low wages typically paid to plantation workers are the basis of plantation profitability in some areas. In more recent times, overt slavery has been replaced by para-slavery or slavery-in-kind , including the sharecropping system , and even that has been severely reduced. At its most extreme, workers are in " debt bondage ": they must work to pay off a debt at such punitive interest rates that it may never be paid off. Others work unreasonably long hours and are paid subsistence wages that (in practice) may only be spent in

667-449: The meat can be removed from the shell with ease, and the drying process is complete after three to five more days (up to seven in total). Sun drying is often combined with kiln drying, eight hours of exposure to sunlight means the time spent in a kiln can be reduced by a day and the hot air the shells are exposed to in the kiln is more easily able to remove the remaining moisture. This process can also be done in reverse order: partially drying

696-579: The plantation or retaining corridors of natural forest. In Brazil, similar measures are required by government regulation. Plantation owners extensively used enslaved Africans to work on early plantations (such as tobacco, rice, cotton, hemp, and sugar plantations) in the American colonies and the United States, throughout the Caribbean, the Americas, and in European-occupied areas of Africa. In modern times,

725-521: The rise of cotton in the American South, indigo and rice were also sometimes called plantation crops. Probably the most critical factor a plantation has on the local environment is the site where the plantation is established. In Brazil, coffee plantations would use slash-and-burn agriculture, tearing down rainforests and planting coffee trees that depleted the nutrients in soil. Once the soil had been sapped, growers would move on to another place. If

754-454: The term usually refers only to large-scale estates. Before about 1860, it was the usual term for a farm of any size in the southern parts of British North America , with, as Noah Webster noted, "farm" becoming the usual term from about Maryland northward. The enslavement of people was the norm in Maryland and states southward. The plantations there were forced-labor farms. The term "plantation"

783-473: Was $ 145-146 Million. The largest exporter was Papua New Guinea with 35% of the global total, followed by Indonesia (20%), Solomon Islands (13%) and Vanuatu (12%). The largest importer of copra is the Philippines , which imports $ 93.4 Million or 64% of the global total. A very large number of small farmers and tree owners produce copra, which is a vital part of their income. Copra is highly susceptible to

812-458: Was used in most British colonies but very rarely in the United Kingdom itself in this sense. There it was used mainly for tree plantations , areas artificially planted with trees, whether purely for commercial forestry , or partly for ornamental effect in gardens and parks, when it might also cover plantings of garden shrubs. Among the earliest examples of plantations were the latifundia of

841-627: Was widespread. But due to the rising input costs of agriculture, many farmers have done teak and bamboo plantations, which require very little water (only during the first two years). Teak and bamboo have legal protection from theft. Bamboo, once planted, gives output for 50 years till flowering occurs. Teak requires 20 years to grow to full maturity and fetch returns. These may be established for watershed or soil protection. They are established for erosion control, landslide stabilization, and windbreaks. Such plantations are established to foster native species and promote forest regeneration on degraded lands as

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