The Philippine Coconut Authority has urged all stakeholders to help plant seven million coconut trees every year in order to save the industry from deterioration.
Speaking during the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City, Roque Quimpan, board member of the PCA said that the decline of the ‘tree of life’s’ industry had its beginnings during typhoons Pablo in 2012 and Yolanda in 2013 when millions of coconut trees were damaged.
To make matters worse, mass infestation of the cocolisap or the bug pest that prevented the tree from bearing fruits.
“A total of 33 M coconut trees were destroyed during the two super typhoons. Two to three million trees were cut due to the infestation of the cocolisap,” Quimpan said on Monday.
Quimpan also said that at present, 500,OOO coconut trees in Basilan are to be cut because of the cocolisap infestation and around 144,000 trees in Zamboanga.
According to the PCA board member, it is important to save the coconut because it is dubbed as the tree of life, considering that every part of it could be used.
As a solution to the problem, Quimpan said that in order to replenish the coconuts that we have lost, seven million coconut trees should be planted every year in five years. He said that everyone who will be participating in the planting activity will be given P 40 for every surviving coconut tree. In the indigenous people’s areas, an additional P 20 will be given to them through their respective indigenous people’s organization (IPO).
Furthermore, Quimpan said that had it not been for the coconut’s other components and other high value biproducts like the virgin coconut oil and the palm oil, the industry would have had died.
Coconut water is also a product that greatly gives significant income to the Philippines because it is exported to countries like United States and China. In 2014, 10.2 L of coconut water was exported to the United States which is equivalent to $ 11 million.
The Philippines have a total of 3.3 M hectares of coconuts, currently making the country as the second in the world to export coconut products.
