Caroline Islands
p. 65 · Read in the full issue
Cocoa Industry For
AN attempt to establish the cocoa industry in the Western Caroline Islands (taken over from Japan by ■ the U.S. after the war) is being made by Administration of the Trust Territory of Micronesia.
The first project is located at Babelthuap, in the Palau group, and will serve as a pilot project with a planting of about 300 acres.
Construction on the physical plant and facilities is nearing completion and planting should be well under way by January, 1953.
If the test planting is successful, plantation plantings will be increased and the government will attempt to establish plantings in the native villages on a cottage industry basis.
The need for new cash crop is especially vital in the Palau District where the Rhinoceros Beetle, Oryctes rhinoceri, has practically wiped out the copra crop.
The new Trust Territory Adminis tration is showing interest in the es tablishment of a sound and practical economic foundation for these islands. This follows “Navy fum bling” over 7 years.