ST GEORGE’S, Grenada: Nutmeg and cocoa remain two important crops in Grenada and it is with this in mind the Grenada Cocoa Association and the Grenada Nutmeg Association are striving to introduce new value-added products out of these two high-demand crops. One of the areas being looked at is the drying of cocoa pods. According to Chairman of the GCA Dr. Reginald Buckmire, the dried pods are sent to an operation in the US and will be developed into a new product to be revealed by Christmas. Another area of development is the Nutmeg Oil Plant in Mali which is currently used for hydro distillation. According to Chairman of the GCNA Augustine Vesprey, they intend to transform the plant into a manufacturing complex, where the fat that will emerge from the nutmeg waste after the distillation will be converted into body care products. The Cocoa Association, unlike the GCNA, was able to export one batch of cocoa since Hurricane Ivan and currently they are obtaining about 700lbs of dried cocoa per week. This could be a challenge and so Dr. Buckmire says an active business approach ought to be taken by introducing new products from the crop. It is no easy task to unfold these plans but the GCNA and the GCA is confident that it will be successful in the end. Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com