PhilMech to train, fund coops to boost coconut industry

The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) on Monday said it will train and fund cooperatives to further boost the coconut industry in the country.

In a statement, Phil-

Mech executive director Dr. Dionisio Alvindia said the agency wants cooperatives to succeed in producing value-added coconut products.

Included in these “value-added products” are crude coconut oil, processed coconut oil, virgin coconut oil, desiccated coconut, coconut coir and coconut sap, the PhilMech said.

“We will provide three years of coaching and mentoring. We want these cooperatives to be successful,” Alvindia said.

The PhilMech said the

PH’s 1st carrier-neutral reg’l data center eyes expansion

Officials of the country’s largest carrier-neutral and regional data center in the country are already studying options for a second site ahead of the opening of a joint venture firm’s first center, Narra 1, on Tuesday.

In a briefing on Monday, Digital Edge chief product officer Jonathan Chou said they aim to provide a service that will compete with data centers overseas such as those in Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States.

Threadborne Group, target to provide world-class data center services with the likes of Amazon through its 10-megawatt (MW) center at the Laguna Technopark in Binan.

The center offers 2,200 cabinets for colocation site for technology-related firms.

agency will be spearheading the establishment of shared processing facilities (SPFs) for qualified coconut farmer cooperatives which have a PHP500-million budget for the next 12 months.

The initial

Chou said they consider regional players and not local counterparts as their competitors, thus the aim to “really work hard” to ensure their services meet the needs of their clients.

The USD100-joint venture firm between regional player Digital Edge (Singapore) Holdings Pte. Ltd. and local technology and real estate company

Chou said the firm aims to be a carbon-neutral data center by 2030, to source at least 50 percent of power from renewable energy by 2025, and to achieve to have a peak power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.3 or less, among others.

“We have firm conviction on the size and the potential of the market in the Philippines. So, we will continue to invest as long as the growth is there,” he said.

Chou said they still do not have specific details for the second site but he de-