Going down the toll road from Nagua to Santo Domingo one passes a few miles of beheaded palm trees. Are these coconut palms, and have been harvested inthis grotesque manner? And would that be where to look for a plant that makes coconut oil?
Donno
Deryl
No, those are African Palms plantations. They do produce a nut that is harvested for its oil, but its mostly used in production of soap and such. Many sections of the plantations are "beheaded" because those trees have had 20 or so years of productivity. Once those 20 years are over, the trees are killed to be replaced by a new generation, which is already growing between all the dead trunks. Every single African Palm in the country was introduced in the 1980s.
Coconut oil comes from coconuts and they are harvested in the same way an average joe gets his; climb the tree with a machete and a rope, cut the coconuts and down to the ground. The tree is left completely harmless and there's no drying up period since coconut trees have very long productive period (around a century or so).