The Rotary Club of Eko Atlantic has partnered with the Lagos State Coconut Development Authority (LASCODA) to plant coconut seedlings in order to bring back the glory of coconut as the only cash crop produced in the state.
The General Manager, LASCODA, Dapo Olakulehin, while speaking at the flag-off of the exercise at Oniru Beach, Victoria Island, Lagos, noted that the partnership would help to rebuild the Atlantic green walls and promote sustainable coconut production, utilization, and commercialization in the state.
The Atlantic wall provided by coconut trees, which is called the “green wall,” serves to provide coconut for economic purposes and to beautify, as well as to prevent coastal erosion, by shielding the land from the waves of the ocean, which no other crop can withstand.
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Olakulehin commended the club for the initiative, adding that it would have a greater impact on society in the next five years. He lamented that about 180 kilometers of coastline containing coconut trees, called the “green wall,” from Ibeju-Lekki to Badagry, on the Seme border, have collapsed because the coconut trees are old and are dying, and he assured that it would be rebuilt under the partnership.
“When we talk about production, which is where the Rotary Club has come in today, A lot of coconut trees along our beaches are old and not performing the function that they are supposed to perform, and that is why the Rotary Club is coming in to build what we call the “green wall,” he said.
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The President of the Rotary Club of Eko Atlantic, Rotarian Gboyega Bada, noted that the collaboration would protect the environment, adding that no fewer than 10,000 seedlings would be planted yearly by the club.
Bada pointed out that the club has started planting 1,000 coconut seedlings on the Lagos coastline to rebuild the Atlantic green walls, and that the club has also sought the approval of the Lagos State Ministry of Education to plant coconut in all primary and secondary schools to ensure the re-introduction of coconut to the new generation right from school.
