For several decades now, about 3.5 million Filipinos who are growing coconut in their farms have been waiting for a new law that will help shape a better coconut industry. And with the recent passage of Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Act, the plight of these farmers will finally be alleviated.
That’s according to Senator Cynthia Villar, the chairperson of the Senate committee on agriculture and food. Last August, the P100-billion coco levy trust fund was approved to help fund different programs for coconut farmers and the development of coconut agencies.
About P35 billion from the coco levy fund will be spent annually for shared facilities; scholarship programs; empowerment of coconut organizations and cooperatives; farm improvement to encourage self-sufficiency; and health and medical benefits.
The coco levy was a form of tax imposed on coconut farmers during the administration of former president Ferdinand Marcos from 1971 to 1982. The funds were supposed to be used for the development of the coconut industry, but until farmers have yet to feel the return of their contributions.
The coco levy was imposed on coconut farmers from 1971 to 1982. Purportedly, it was collected to subsidize the sale of coconut-based products, finance coconut research, extension and credit services, and among others, benefit the coconut industry in general. However, the funds were apparently not used for their intended purposes.
“An ‘orphan child’ of Philippine agriculture” is how the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD) calls our coconut industry.
“Over the years, it has received scant government attention as evidenced by the lack of sustained roadmap, as well as funding, for the coconut industry. This deficiency is in stark contrast compared with the resources committed by the government to irrigated rice in line with its rice self-sufficiency drive,” the CPBRD said in its website.
“The development of the coconut sector is central to the objective of reducing poverty in the rural areas. There are about 3.4 million farmers and workers dependent on coconut-based livelihood. The coconut industry comprises the largest farm area or about 30% of farmlands in Philippine agriculture,” it added.
Coconut products contribute nearly half of agriculture exports and on average accounts for 5.97% of the country’s gross value added. And yet, many coconut farmers and farm workers still live below the poverty line.
What is even more interesting is that coconut regions host the largest number of rural poor folks in the countryside. According to CPBRD, regions with disproportionately huge coconut areas tend to have high poverty incidence.
The Philippine Statistics Authority says the top coconut-producing region are Davao Region with contribution of 14.2%. This is followed by Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, and CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) with contributions of 12.8%,12.7%, and 10.2%, respectively.
The Philippines is the world’s second largest producer of coconut products – after Indonesia.
“While coconut is one of the two agricultural commodities that earns the country more than a billion dollars in export revenues every year, its vast potential to earn even more has never been tapped because of numerous issues bugging the industry,” wrote Dr. William Dar in his Manila Times column last year.
He went on by providing some facts and figures: “The area currently planted to coconut is about 3.565 million hectares or 26% of country’s total agricultural lands. Also, 68 out of 81 provinces are coconut-growing areas. At present, these lands host about 339 million bearing coconut trees and 3.4 million farmers who, ironically, live mostly below the poverty line even as coconut exports reached $2.0 billion in 2016.
“Nut production on the average was 13.8 million or 46 nuts per tree per year.
“Although coconut exports, primarily from processed products like oil, are expected to rise this year, the vast potential of the coconut industry has yet to be tapped and measures have to be put into place to include the poor farmers of the crop to earn more.”
Dr. Dar suggests that Filipinos should plant more coconut, but not just any kind of coconut. “From the 46 nuts per year current average yield, it is possible to increase the productivity of coconut tress to 150 nuts per year using the hybrids developed by the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).
In addition, “300 nuts per year can be achieved in well-managed plantations by augmenting hybrid technology with good agricultural practices (GAP).”
How can this be made possible? “First, there should be a good and practical extension system to make the latest in coconut technology reach resource-poor farmers, particularly hybrids and GAP.
“Also, coconut farmers should be provided workable capital that can be recovered when the dwarf hybrids start bearing nuts, which is 3-4 years instead of seven years for the traditional tall varieties.”
Also, by planting more coconuts, the Philippines can also help stave off the effects of climate change. “These coconut lands could be developed for income generating carbon sequestration projects and carbon credit market,” pointed out a PCA official.
Carbon sequestration describes long-term storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon to either mitigate or defer global warming and avoid dangerous climate change. Carbon dioxide, in the form of gas, can be sequestered out of the atmosphere through photosynthesis. The carbon dioxide is converted into sugar by the plant or emitted back to the air through perspiration.
Carbon stored in plant parts other than the stem wood or trunk are generally decomposable biomass which eventually becomes a part of the soil organic matter of which the more stable component is the 50 percent soil organic carbon.
