Salceda to BBM: Don’t leave out small coconut farmers

ALBAY Rep. Joey Salceda is asking the administration of President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to ensure that “marginal farmers” or small coconut farmers, who are not members of coconut farmer associations, will still be able to benefit from the P75-billion Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund.

Salceda, also chairman of House Committee on Ways and Means, in a statement, said he hopes that the incoming Marcos Jr. administration will be open to “tweaking” the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan (CFIDP), which was approved by President Duterte under Executive Order No. 172, s. 2022, which he signed June 8 this year.

“There are two areas that are not very well-articulated in the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan, which is the guiding blueprint for the use of the Coco Levy Trust Fund. One is marginal or small-scale farmers, who are the poorest of the poor, both nationwide and as a subsector of the coconut industry. The second area of concern is crop diversification and inter-cropping, which is the best way to make coconut farmers more profitable and productive, peso-per-peso,” Salceda said.

The P75-billion Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund was created last year under Republic Act No. 11524.

Duterte issued EO 172 series of 2022 that approved the CFIDP that will serve as the overall utilization plan of the coco levy fund.

Under the CFIDP, the coco levy fund will be utilized for the following national programs: establishment of community-based enterprises; provision of social protection for coconut farmers, farmworkers, and their families; organization and development of coconut farmers; conduct of innovative research on coconut processing, production, and distribution; and integrated processing of coconut and downstream products.

The coconut sector is one of the largest sources of employment in the province of Albay, Salceda said.

“I have recently had a consultation on the agriculture sector early this week with key agriculturists, including national scientists, agricultural economists, agri-engineers, and others,” Salceda said, referring to discussions during a UP-LOS Baños convocation where he was keynote speaker this week.

“We have come to the conclusion that the best way to lift coconut farmers out of poverty is to diversify their cropping, so that they are not so vulnerable to the price ‘cyclicalities’ of the sector. Estimates suggest that 50 percent of coconut farmers fall below the poverty line. More than double the national average. So, to lift the coconut industry includes lifting the coconut farmers out of poverty,” he added.

“We are the largest or the second largest exporter of coconut products in the world, at around P15 billion annually. And we can do better with value-added. But you can’t do valueadd if farmers are not bankable, and to be bankable, they have to be, at the very least, non-poor. So, farmer income is key to developing the coconut sector,” Salceda added.

According to Salceda, the government should help small farm holders consolidate, either through farm consolidation, or through “cooperativism.”