PHILIPPINE COCONUT INDUSTRY
IGNORED NEW MARKET DEMANDS
By Manny Piñol
San Ramon, Zamboanga City – The Philippine Coconut Industry is a perfect example of a sector with vast potentials which missed the train of development simply because it failed to adjust and respond to the demands of the market.
While Thailand has a puny coconut sector with only 216,000 hectares of coconut farms, it has bested the Philippines which has an area of 3.3-million hectares, in the highly lucrative market of Coco Water, Coco Chips, Green Aromatic Coconut and other high value products.
In the lucrative markets of the U.S.A. and Europe, there is almost a complete domination by Thailand of the high value coconut products, like bottled or tetra-packed coconut water.
During a brief meeting with officials of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) and a farmers’ advocacy group, Save the Coconut Moment, in the San Ramon Research Station of the PCA in Zamboanga City yesterday, I emphasized the need for the Coconut Industry to adjust to the needs of the market.
While Thailand focused on producing Coconut Varieties which produced Aromatic Coco Water and other high value products, the Philippine Coconut Industry was stuck in its obsession with the Copra, the coconut meat which is the source of cooking oil.
Today, as the World Market Prices of Copra plummeted, coconut farmers, who are among the poorest members of the agriculture sector, are hit hard and could hardly survive.
There is nothing much that government could do because Copra Prices are dictated by world market demands and the only other option available – increasing the use of coco oil in the government’s biofuel program from B2 (2% coco oil-98% diesel fuel) to B5 – will not even reach first base as the Economic Managers will certainly not allow an increase of about P0.45 centavos to the cost of the diesel fuel.
I do not claim to be better than anybody else in appreciating and understanding the problems of agriculture but as a farmer I have always believed that whatever we do or plant in the farm should be guided by the needs of the market.
In the second PCA Board of Governors’ meeting which I chaired following the return of the agency to the Department of Agriculture, I discovered that the Philippine Coconut Industry does not even have a Road Map of Development.
Upon my prodding, the PCA Board allocated P10-million for the crafting of a 5-Year Coconut Industry Development Road Map.
This will not be a difficult task because we have all the data and what needs to be done is just gather all the major stakeholders and have these data validated.
With the Coconut Industry Road Map, all the efforts for the rehabilitation and revival of the Philippine Coconut Industry will be geared towards a clear objective.
Yesterday, I emphasized that the Coconut Industry should not just be about Copra to produce Coconut Cooking Oil.
There is a long list of high value products from Coconut – Green Coconut, Coco Water, Coco Sugar, Coco Syrup, Coco Milk, Virgin Coco Oil, Coco Flour, Coco Chips, Coco Coir, Coco Charcoal Briquettes and even the lowly but ubiquitous “Walis Tingting.”
Yesterday, in San Ramon, I saw farmers being trained to make handicraft products out of coconut husks, fronds and shells.
When I was a young boy in the elementary grades, we were taught how to turn Coco Shells into handicraft items but I never heard that anyone of us got rich because of what we learned.
“Teach them skills which they could use in earning extra income and don’t waste their time making handicraft items they cannot sell,” I told the PCA officials.
I told the PCA engineers to focus on the fabrication of locally designed Coco Husk decorticating machines to process the husks, which is just being thrown away to rot in the fields, into Coco Coir, Coco Ropes and Fiber to be used in producing Eco-Blocks for housing materials which could be sold to the housing companies.
I also asked them to design a machine which would efficiently strip coco fronds to produce quality “Walis Tingting” which has a great demand in the market.
Agriculture is just like a basketball game or even boxing: if the player does not adjust to the situation, in this case the market demands, he will surely lose the game.
(Photos by the DA-AFID Biyaheng Bukid team.)
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