In celebration of the National Coconut Day, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) launched the five-year Coconut Farming Industry and Development Plan (CFIDP) in Barangay Bago Oshiro on Wednesday.
The event was attended by over 300 coconut farmers, farmer cooperatives, processors, coconut products manufacturers and coconut-based micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The launching of the CFIDP was marked by a ceremonial awarding of coconut, cacao and coffee seedlings participated in by the PCA Regional Manager Juvy Alayon, PCA Regional Deputy Administrator Roel Rosales, Department of Agriculture Regional Director Abel James Monteagudo, Davao City Councilor Conrado Baloran and lawmakers from all over the Davao Region.
The CFIDP, as a whole, is a 50-year comprehensive plan funded by the P75 Billion Coco Levy Fund, with a yearly budget allotment no lower than P5 Billion. The first phase covers the first five years of the CFIDP.
For this year, the P5 Billion budget has already been allocated to implement the various programs geared towards improving the lives of coconut farmers and increasing the production of high-quality coconuts and its products in the country.
Alayon said with the utilization of the Coco Levy Fund under the RA 11524 through the CFIDP, coconut farmers will now receive subsidies, farming assistance, and monetary benefits that the government owes them.
She said the PCA XI has already profiled almost all coconut farmers in Davao City, and had them registered under the National Coconut Farmers Registry System (NCFRS) to make them eligible to avail the programs under the CFIDP.
She said the PCA has already registered over 267,000 farmers in Region XI.
Rosales, on the other hand, said registered farmers and their kin will receive educational and health benefits.
The farmers will also be trained to keep up with the latest farming techniques under the plan’s technology transfer programs, as well as avail of monetary credits and crop insurance.
Rosales said farmers in areas prone to typhoon, drought and pestilence will be prioritized under the development plan’s crop insurance benefits.
The development plan will be implemented by the PCA and other agencies such as the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST – PCAARRD), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), National Dairy Authority (NDA), High Value Crops Development Program, Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), Department of Public Work and Highways (DPWH), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).
The Philippines’ coconut industry is the second largest in the world next to Indonesia. The country earned $2 Billion in coconut exports last year, making up 25 percent of the total income of all agriculture exports.
Under the same program, the PCA aims to double the country’s coconut production within the next decade. CIO
