Introduction to COGENT

The International Coconut Genetic Resources Network aims to promote collaboration for the conservation and use of coconut genetic resources. COGENT currently is made up of 39 country members: Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Fiji, Ghana, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sultanate of Oman, Tanzania, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad y Tobago, Vanuatu and Vietnam.

Coconut, Cocos nucifera L., is the 'tree of life'. Each part of the coconut palm can produce items of value for the community. Coconut products provide food, shelter and energy to farm households, and can be made into various commercial and industrial products.  Fully developed and strategically used it would increase food production, improve nutrition, create employment opportunities, enhance equity and preserve the environment. Coconut culture faces several problems that can affect its production and competitiveness: low yield and yield security, unstable markets for its traditional products, among others. Pests and diseases, repeated natural calamities, ageing of palms and genetic erosion further aggravate the dire situation.

Coconut-producing countries lack both human and material resources to conduct expensive and time-consuming research that could solve these problems. The world's research community has recognized that international support is essential if coconut is to be made more productive to benefit resource-poor coconut farmers. Genetic resources have been identified as the most urgent and strategic 

area to increase productivity and yield security.

On the suggestion of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and its Technical Advisory Committee, representatives of 15 coconut- producing countries at an international workshop in Cipanas, Indonesia in October 1991, recommended establishing an international coconut genetic resources network. In 1992, Bioversity International, with the endorsement of the CGIAR and its donors, established COGENT to promote an international collaborative programme on genetic resources conservation and use.