DA, DAR launch P30-M coconut fiber processing project

The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) are undertaking this year a P30-million joint project that will involve the establishment of fiber processing zones in two major coconut-producing regions in the country.

Agriculture Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban said that under the Nucleus Farm Development Project (NFDP) the two government agencies will fund the development of coconut fiber processing technology in Regions IV-A in Southern Tagalog and Region V or the Bicol provinces.

These two regions were identified as having the area and the capacity that could sustain the operation of a fiber processing facility that will produce, among others, geotextiles production for export.

"The idea here is to develop a fiber processing technology that guarantees quality production of coconut-fiber-based products that command high prices abroad," said Panganiban.

The fiber processing zones that will be put up will provide farmers with the necessary training required to produce innovative and saleable coconut fiber-based products. Aside from the production aspect, farmer participants will also be taught on how to tap growing overseas markets.

Panganiban said preparatory work has started and the project should be fully operational by April. He said the NFDP is part of the medium-term goal of the DA to create new jobs in agribusiness and develop new agribusiness lands that would also involve the development of village-level small and medium enterprises.

Under phase I of the NFDP, the agencies concerned such as the Philippine Coconut Authority will develop prototype micro decorticating machines and one unit of baling machine.

Under phase II, the PCA will go on commercial production of these machines for distribution to coconut farmers: 15 units micro-decorticating machines; 15 units mini-decorticating machines; andsix units baling machines.

The PCA said that last year, field testing was conducted on four units of mini and micro-decorticating machines in Mulanay, Quezon and at the regional office in Lucena City.

Earlier, the PCA acquired a $100-million soft loan facility from the state-controlled China National Technical Import and Export Corporation (CNTIC) for its Coconut Commodity Development Project (CCDP).

The loan aims to bolster the local coconut industry’s efforts to develop value-added products for the export market. A huge part of the loan was supposed to go into the development of some 400,000 hectares of our coconut lands to enable us to commercially produce geotextiles, coco-peat and other high-value coconut products for export to China for anti-desertification and soil erosion applications.

Geotextiles are synthetic permeable textiles material used with soil, rock, or any other geotechnical engineering related material. Also known as geosynthetics, geotextiles are generally associated with high-standard, all-season roads but can also be used in low-standard logging roads.