PCA sets sights on boosting coco production to cut imports

MANILA is implementing a program that aims to boost the productivity of the local coconut sector to reduce the Philippines’s copra imports.

The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) said the country is currently importing copra from Papua New Guinea to augment domestic supply, which has been reduced due to the low productivity of trees.

“The current average yield of 44 coconuts per tree each year could rise to 80 to 100 through the use of hybrid varieties,” PCA Administrator and CEO Bernie Cruz after the agency signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with two groups on Wednesday.

The PCA sealed an MOU with the Confederation of Coconut Farmer’s Organizations of the Philippines (CCFOPCONFED) and the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) to “reinvigorate the coconut industry.”

“Doubling the yield, even if copra prices remain steady, will definitely double farmer incomes,” Cruz said.

Coconut production in 2022 reached 14.93 million metric tons, up 1.5 percent year-on-year, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The PCA said it will target to plant 100 million coconut trees in the next 5 years.

Despite years of stagnation and decline, Cruz said the coconut industry remains as one of the country’s top dollarearning industries.

“We expect to significantly increase coconut productivity, boost diversified production, and engage more of our farmers in higher value-adding activities, which would contribute to economic growth and substantially increase and even double farmers’ incomes.”

Aside from massive planting and replanting, PCA and its partners will intensify farm diversification, foster coconut processing by small and mediumsized enterprises, and revitalize coconut research and development.

“The urgency of helping coconut farmers, organizing and strengthening cooperatives, and providing support services such as shared facilities and processing centers to capacitate the coconut planting and replanting program.”

Cruz said that such interventions should encompass all provinces viable for coconut farming and further enhance best practices of the vibrant coconut industry in provinces such as Camarines Sur and Quezon Province, as well as in the highest coconut-producing areas in the Davao Region, Zamboanga Peninsula, and Northern Mindanao.

The PCA is the sole government agency tasked to develop the coconut industry to its full potential in line with the new vision of a united, globally competitive, and efficient coconut industry.

Palm oil imports

MEANWHILE , a group warned against imposing unnecessary restrictions on the importation of palm oil, saying this will price lead to higher food prices.

“We had been informed that the DA [Department of Agriculture] is considering some policy proposals that will surely hurt Filipino consumers,” Lester Codog, Bantay Palengke convenor said.

“We have been monitoring issues being raised by various sectors including some quarters that are competing with the palm oil industry and we are wary that they have misguided our policymakers on this issue.”

Codog said that among the proposals include the prohibition of palm oil trading, which is necessary for backyard feed producers to continue operating.

“If we allow this prohibition on palm oil trading, palm oil importation will now solely be the domain of large scale feed manufacturers. This triggers monopoly pricing and a potential abuse of dominant position,” he said.

“It will marginalize backyard feed producers which rely on affordable palm oil and other materials to remain viable livelihood endeavors. It will also marginalize small-scale and mediumsized feed mills, as they have limited capacity to store various raw materials, including imported palm oil.”

Raadee S. Sausa

the value of production during the second quarter of 2023.”

In contrast, the value of crop production went up by 1.2 percent to P240.83 billion, according to data from the PSA. The crops subsector accounted for 56.3 percent of the total value of farm output.

Poultry production was also higher by 1.5 percent during the period. It accounted for P64.54 billion or 15.1 percent of the total value of production in agriculture and fisheries.

PSA said chicken and duck exhibited improvements in the value of production during the period.

“This was due to the annual increases in the value of production of crops, livestock, poultry, and fisheries.”

The crops subsector again buoyed the performance of Philippine agriculture as it posted a 1.7-percent increase in terms of the value of its output. Palay and corn registered increases of 5.2 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively. Raadee S. Sausa