Sea change also needed in coco industry
SINCE the coconut levy was imposed forty years ago, our coconut farmers have been unjustly treated and exploited. A sea change in the coconut industry is needed now to correct this travesty of justice. Insights can be derived from Solita Monsod’s Inquirer column last Dec. 19.
She describes a sea change that has occurred within the military: “The AFP and all its components now have transformation roadmaps that clearly define what they want to be and how they would get there.” She added, “These transformation roadmaps really grew out of a game-changing plan (they call it a paradigm shift) ... You can see where the game change is when the military says ‘it aims at winning the peace’ instead of just defeating the enemy. It is a broader concept.”
The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) should likewise embrace a broader concept. So far, its emphasis has been limited to copra and coconut oil production. PCA must now have a game-changing plan with a paradigm shift to catalyze a sea change in the coconut industry. This starts with a credible coconut industry roadmap.
According to Joey Faustino, executive director of the Coconut Industry Reform Movement, there is no such roadmap. Romeo Royondoyan, an Alyansa Agrikultura convenor, has asked PCA to broad- en its emphasis on coconut production to now include farmer incomes.
PCA systematically tracks production, but not incomes.
Today, the four million coconut farmers and farm workers make up the largest agricultural sector. But they are also the poorest, making an average annual income of only P20,000 per hectare.
Action must be taken now by our government. This will allow the next government to build on a correct path, instead of muddling through during its first learning months. Four areas should be addressed immediately.
Four Initiatives. The first is intercropping. Two million out of our three million hectares of coconut land have no intercropping between coconut trees. Today, we import most of our cacao and coffee. A foreign investor said: “I cannot believe two million hectares of your agricultural land are practically idle. Intercropping cacao and coffee can save foreign exchange, and more importantly, add at least P80,000 income per hectare.”
An additional P65,000 can be gained from the multi-story intercropping of papaya, banana, or pineapple. PCA must take aggressive initiatives with banks, agricultural colleges, and agribusiness groups to enable the coconut farmer to get the financing, training, and market linkages for this intercropping to take off.
The second initiative is valueadding. This will add at least another P100,000 per hectare. The PCA should actively promote women empowerment by enabling them to produce valueadded products such as virgin coconut oil, coconut flour, and coconut milk.
When an Alyansa Agrikultura leader protested the proposed PCA budget decrease from P4.1 billion in 2015 to P1.3 billion in 2016 out of a total DA budget of P90 billion, a DBM official said this was because PCA still had P7 billion in unused funds. These idle funds should be used to promote this value-adding initiative.
The third urgent measure is to finally enable the coconut farmers to use the coconut levy. Together with coconut farmers, Congress drafted a Coconut Farmer and Industry Trust Fund Act. Some of its important features are: (1) the fund will be solely for coconut farmers, instead of being diverted to serve other interests as what happened in the past; (2) it will be permanent, because only its interest earnings will be used; and (3) the fund’s use will be determined by a body with approximately half composed of coconut farmers.
This bill was passed by the House of Representatives last Oct. 9. However, it is still being deliberated upon by the Senate. The Sen- ate should not be distracted by the coming elections and should instead pass this bill, which the coconut farmers have long waited for.
The fourth initiative that must be implemented is the creation of Municipal Coconut Industry Development Councils. This should be created in all 68 coconut-growing provinces. The overly-centralized government management of coconut industry initiatives has failed to address the real needs of the coconut farmers at the local levels.
The LGUs that have created councils in provinces such as Camarines Norte, Davao Oriental, and Quezon have already shown the benefits of this decentralization. Among the outcomes are the consolidation of coconut farmers for the purpose of buying and selling their goods instead of being individually exploited by traders, as well as new enterprise development where value-added products contribute significantly to their income.
These four initiatives will constitute a sea change that the coconut industry and farmers sorely need today.
(The author is chair of Agriwatch, former Secretary for Presidential Flagship Programs and Projects, and former Undersecretary for Agriculture, Trade and Industry. For inquiries and suggestions, e-mail agriwatch_phil@yahoo.com or telefax (02) 852-2112).