How coconut oil can help beat recession

Coconut oil, woven mats and noni juice are some of the products that will help Pacific Islanders to get through the recession, a conference in Auckland has heard.

Members of Pacific communities met at the "Brother Pacific Wave: Weathering the Economic Storm" conference this week to discuss how Pacific Islanders, at home and overseas, can get through the hard economic times.

Establishing a niche market for items such as traditional woven fine mats, tapa cloth, coconut oil and noni juice was one of the key ways to earn individuals cash, while also helping the various countries to grow economically, said Adimaimalaga Tafuna'i, executive director for Women in Business, in Samoa.

"Finding niche markets like coconut oil and noni juice is the only way the islands will achieve in the world market."

Such items, readily available in the Pacific, "are things people from Europe, America and Asia find luxurious - different - and we have [them] in the islands", she said.

Programmes involving Pacific arts and crafts, such as traditional tapa cloth-making, screen printing and traditional fine weaving, had popped up in many Pacific countries and were looking to rise, given the economic situation.

In Samoa, Ms Tafuna'i said, her non-governmental organisation had established a number of programmes where skilled craftspeople taught villagers - mainly women living at home - how to make jewellery, table mats and organic beauty products such as coconut oil soap. The products were then sold at village markets, and others were exported.

"We've got traditional fine mat programmes, fair trade certification programmes to the organics - getting farmers involved in the world market.

"It's about helping rural people, encouraging them to use the natural products around them. It's getting them their own cash, helping them to earn a living from what they have access to."

This month, international company The Body Shop will release Samoan-made virgin coconut oil to up to 50 countries.

The bath and body product - which has long been a favourite in its island home - was a success for the Pacific, Ms Tafuna'i said, but one that took years to happen.

Encouraging rural villagers to make an income off the land was only now becoming appealing, because of the economic situation, she said.

"When the men and young people of the family leave for overseas or go into town to work, the women stay home [waiting].

"What we like to do is create an industry there - get [women] excited about earning an income in a different way, which their mothers and grandmothers once taught."