Brighter days ahead!

US MARKET OPENS SOON

FOR PH GREEN COCONUT

By Manny Piñol

The lucrative US market will soon be open for green coconut or “buko” from the Philippines, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney revealed during a call on the Secretary of the Philippine Department of Agriculture yesterday.

Undersecretary McKinney said that there are just a few more quarantine protocols which need to be completed before Filipino coconut farmers could start shipping Green Coconuts or “Buko” to the US.

Starting 2019, Green Coconuts from the Philippines could be seen in Filipino and Asian grocery stores across America.

Green Coconut or “Buko” is a high value product which has carved a niche in the health-conscious US market but the supply is currently monopolized by Thailand because of their aggressive marketing efforts and market-oriented agriculture.

The Philippines is ranked No. 2, after Indonesia, as the biggest producer of Coconut with a total of 3.5-million hectares planted and a production of 15-million metric tons while Thailand is a far No. 9 with only 1-million metric tons produced from only 216,000 hectares.

The Philippine Coconut Industry, however, failed to catch up with the demands of the market and focused mainly on the production of Copra which is processed to produce Oil.

Thailand has pioneered in the export to the US of Green Coconuts, Coconut Water, Coconut Syrup and other high value products and is now preparing to invade the European market.

Under the administration of President Rody Duterte and following the return of the PCA to the DA, the Coconut Industry is now preparing a 5-Year Coconut Industry Development Road Map.

The marketing of Green Coconuts to the US and soon to Europe is the Philippine Coconut Industry’s first major effort to catch up with the demands of the health-conscious market.

The PCA, in its last Governing Council Meeting, approved the allocation of P300-M for the establishment of an Irradiation Facility in the Davao Region and small farmer-owned facilities in the different regions to provide them support to produce other high value products from Coconuts.

This will be a major shift for the Filipino coconut farmers which is aimed at weaning them from their reliance on Copra production alone for their income and introducing other high value products from which they could generate greater income.

Among the products now being developed by the Coconut Industry are:

– Hollow Blocks and Roofing materials made out of Coconut Fiber and dirty plastic as binder;

– Coco Coir Production for the growing Greenhouse Farming Industry in the US, Europe, Japan and South Korea;

– Coconut Sugar, Coconut Syrup, Coconut Milk, Dessicated Coconut, Coconut Chips and Virgin Coconut Oil.

Undersecretary McKinney said the USDA is committed to support the Philippine Coconut Industry’s effort to penetrate the US market with the supply of Green Coconuts and other high value Coconut products.

(Photos of the call of USDA Undersecretary Ted McKinney on the DA Secretary were taken by Alan Jay Jacalan and Mayette Tudlas.)