To address low prices

DA CALLS COCO OIL MILLERS,

COPRA TRADERS TO CAUCUS

By Manny Piñol

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has invited the owners of the country’s large Oil Mills and Copra Traders to a consultative conference on Nov. 22 to address issues in the Coconut Industry, including the very low prices of Copra.

Leaders of Coconut Farmers groups will also be invited in the forum organized by the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) to be held at the DA Main Office in Quezon City.

The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), which has been placed back under the DA two months ago, will be tasked to present the current state of the Coconut Industry and identify the factors behind the drop in the prices of Copra, the main product of most coconut farmers.

The DA Agribusiness and Marketing Division will also make presentations on its proposals to address the low income of Coconut farmers.

Among the proposals expected to be presented are:

1. Empowering the Coconut Farmers Cooperatives or Associations by providing them with working capital to enable them to buy the copra produced by their members;

2. Linking Coconut Farmers Cooperatives and Associations directly with the direct processors and oil mills to increase their margin of profit;

3. Providing Coconut Farmers Cooperatives and Associations with post-harvest equipment including cargo hauling trucks to enhance the quality of their products and their access to the market.

4. Presentation of other high value products which could be processed from Coconuts, including the establishment of facilities for the manufacture of Virgin Coconut Oil, Coco Chips, Coco Sugar and Syrup, Coco Blocks, Coco Coir and others.

Demand for Coconut Oil has gone down in the world market resulting in the fall of Copra prices locally from a high of P40 per kilo a year ago to only about P15 in many areas of the country.

The fall in Copra prices has affected about 3.5-million families who are dependent on the production of about 3.5 million hectares of coconut all over the country.

#SolvingMarketProblems!

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(Photo of coconut farmers downloaded from the Philippine Daily Inquirer website.)