In my first official act as the head of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), I asked Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea yesterday to consider the lifting of a Marcos Presidential Decree which bans the export of mature coconuts.
I made the request after my oath taking yesterday in Malacañang as a follow to the previous recommendations I made when I was Agriculture Secretary to help the Coconut farmers.
The Executive Secretary promised to have my recommendations reviewed as the Palace also seeks options to address the miseries of the country’s 3-million coconut farmers because of the collapse of copra prices.
PD 1106 was issued in 1985 by President Ferdinand E. Marcos with an effect of an Executive Order, hence my recommendation submitted as early as last year included a draft EO to amend the PD.
While the prices of copra have collapsed in the world market, there is now a growing demand for dehusked whole mature coconuts and green coconuts for coco water.
The importers apparently intend to process the whole mature coconuts into high value products like coconut milk, coconut flour and bottled coconut water while at the same time process the coco shells into coco charcoal briquettes.
There is a ready market in the Chinese province of Hainan, which imports mature coconut from Vietnam, Thailand and India for processing into coconut milk.
The Philippines is the world’s second biggest coconut producer, and is the largest exporter of coconut products.
If the ban is lifted, the DA hopes to export 1,500 tons of mature coconuts initially.
According to data from Philippine Statistics Authority, coconut output in the fourth quarter was estimated at 4.03 million metric tons, up 2.7% year-on-year.
The Davao Region was the top producer with a 12.8% share of total production. This is followed by Northern Mindanao with 12.2%, and Zamboanga Peninsula with 10.8%.
As Agriculture Secretary, I actually made several recommendations to address the problems of Coconut farmers shortly after the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) was rrturned to the DA in September 2018.
These were:
1. Temporary ban on the entry of Palm Oil from Indonesia and Malaysia or the imposition of tariff;
2. The increase from 2% to 5% of the Coco Oil component of the Bio-Diesel in compliance with the Bio-Fuel Act;
3. The lifting of the ban on the export of mature whole and dehusked coconuts.
Alongside these recommendations, the DA and PCA also worked for the opening of the export market for green young coconuts in the US and China.
Both markets are now open for green coconut exports.
The other recommendations remained unacted on for one reason or another beyond my control.
As the new MinDA head, I will engage the private sector and farmers group in Mindanao to immediately address the problems of the different sectors in Agriculture.
(First two photos were downloaded from public websites while the last two photos were taken by Ian Pulido of OES)
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