Ways to perk up coco industry

As worldwide demand for coconut products is increasing, Philippine leadership in the industry is diminishing. This despite the fact that Philippine coconuts are still reputed to yield the sweetest juice and meat.

The average annual output of 43 nuts/year/tree is considered low by most coconut producers. And over the last two years, the Philippines’ coconut tree inventory has fallen from more than 340 million to under 290 million due to Supertyphoon “Yolanda” and a virulent infestation in Calabarzon, which is also affecting other trees, plants and crops and is now spreading to neighboring regions. Also, over 30 percent of the remaining coconut trees are senile and underproductive, calling for immediate replacement (read: replanting).

The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), a government agency created to guide the industry, says coconuts occupy 25 percent of the country’s arable land and impact the livelihood of

25 million Filipinos. But a fixation with copra production has prevented the PCA from seriously developing manufacturing processes other than those related to copra, despite the availability of research and development resources which it can access. A countryside entrepreneurship advocacy,

BalikProbinsiya Inc., proposes that more finished products be developed using various coconut raw materials, even as the Philippine Coconut Society has proposed that “frescohan” replace “coprahan” to allow coconut farmers and workers to earn more. To be sure, the billions of coconut levy funds accumulated from the Marcos era can be used to prime such manufacturing startups.

But it seems the PCA is not only incompetent but even uncaring of the welfare of coconut farmers and trees. This is shown by the content and quality of a joint PCA-Department of Agriculture report on the Calabarzon infestation. The report essentially admits that no one is in charge at DA/PCA as far as the disease is concerned; and that the DA and PCA bureaucrats entrusted with the task to develop the coconut industry have no sense of priority, nor of the two agencies’ mission and vision which should be primarily focused on the welfare of coconut farmers.

According to the DA/PCA, the annual per capita income of the ordinary coconut farmer as of 2010 was a measly P10,000/year. It is doubtful that this has improved since—and the probability is that it’s much lesser now, given the Yolanda disaster and the Calabarzon disease.

It is hoped that President Aquino will act more forcefully to revitalize the industry in order to catalyze inclusive economic growth. When P-Noy unveiled his coffee intercropping plan during his last State of the Nation Address, people in the coconut industry were given much hope that daang matuwid had reached the coconut industry. But as July 2014 draws near, it seems DA and PCA officials feel that even very specific orders from the President can be disregarded.

The private sector may want to develop alternative plans to ensure the revitalization of the coconut agroindustry, especially now that there is a strong and growing worldwide interest in

coconut manufactures.

—JOSE OSIAS,

[email protected]