Coastal plants bearing fruits in the Highlands

By ZACHERY PER (The National)
RESIDENTS of some of towns in the Highlands region are already noticing strange things happening to coastal plants they have brought to plant there.
Plants that normally grow only on the coastal areas are beginning to bear fruit in the Highlands.
This is believed to be a direct consequence of the effects of global warming.
Notable of some of the plants are betelnut, coconut and even palm oil.
A local resident of Kundiawa, Teine Kua was shocked and thrilled to see an ornamental palm oil tree he planted next to his mother’s house at Ega Street in town bearing young fruits.
According to Mr Kua he planted a seed he mysteriously found inside his trousers pocket.
“Until now, I cannot recall who exactly
gave me the oil palm seed,” he said.
However, after taking the seed he planted it near the house and after a few weeks noticed young shoots developing.
In the process he planted sticks around the area to allow for it to grow well and not being tempered with.
“Initially, I thought the plant was betelnut, but after some time I noticed that the leaves were different,” Mr Kua said.
He also mentioned of a bean seed he found in a pocket of a trousers he bought at a second-hand shop which he brought home and planted and later noticed the seed germinating and growing up to be a bean.
He called the bean “Jack and the Bean Stalk” because the size of the beans were big compared to the local varieties.
His elder brother Kawagle Kua already harvested a fully matured coconut at Barawaghi Works unit compound few years ago.