Frederick FN Noronha wrote: > Mervyn, You probably didn't get my point. An infusion of technology or > know-how into > this sector could have a significant impact on a place like Goa, for obvious > reasons. > As for the fat content, this is not something I have the knowledge to talk > about, apart > from saying that there seems to be a lot of ongoing debate on this very point.
FN, The fat content of coconut oil is not a state secret. Nor is it a concealed item in a forbidden room in the kingdom of scientists. The fat content is known, and published, and I have even given you the numbers in my previous post. The only issue that remains is that people refuse to believe in what this fat does to the human body. To make this easy to understand, smokers refuse to believe what smoking does to the body despite every warning from the health authorities. Just as in smoking, fat consumers will debate the effects of consuming saturated fats right up to their er, dying day. I love it when people complain that they are taxed too much and then read the results of what their taxes have funded and insist that the Govt health authorities are a bunch of idiots anyway. > Of course, Goa does have issues like a lack of labour wanting to work in the > field, etc. > But even as we talk, someone somewhere might be focussing on working out a > solution. You and I live in different worlds. People die of malnutrition in your part of the world because people are unaware or unable to buy the proper foods. Where I am, people die of malnutrition because they are aware but yet consume too much food of the wrong foods. Labourers in Goa will probably burn up all the coconut oil they consume, but if I have read you correctly, Goans do not want to work as labourers and hence consuming coconut oil, and not doing manual labour, is going to be detrimental to the Goan coconut oil consumers. > Interestingly, the technology for this field seems to be coming not from US > or Canada, > but from Thailand and Fiji! And because we tend to be coconuts ourselves -- > brown > outside but white inside -- this might be something more that we're simply > missing... > Keep an eye open for brown gold too. The technology you seem to be talking about is the technology that was developed during the industrial revolution, appox 300 years ago. A high school student in Toronto can develop a state of the art coconut oil extractor over the weekend. The real technology, the type that makes millions, is being developed by techies all over the world. If you have been following the news lately, you will realize that Goans are not doing too badly in this sphere either. >So till we grow olives in Goa, I'll prefer to keep one eye on coconuts. Man >does not live by dollars alone :-) FN Olive growers, just like their coconut counter parts, are a poor lot. I pray to the golden calf and every other god that olives never grow in Goa. What Goa needs is a frame work that educates kids for the future. An education that enables a person to read and digest the facts. Goans are capable of much more than growing rice and harvesting coconuts. One last thing, the danger, and this is a real one, is that the neighboring states will get their education priorities in check before Goa does. If this happens, Goa will be become the to go place to get virgin coconut oil while the neighboring states bask in their new found wealth from IT. Mervyn Heading towards Toronto
