Government boosts budget for coconut industry

MANILA, Philippines - Given the fast-growing demand for coconut water as a healthy and alternative sports drink globally, officials said the Philippines, being the world’s top coconut exporter, is taking steps to ensure sustainable supply.

Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) deputy administrator Carlos Carpio said the government has increased by more than eight times the budget for coconut replanting in the country.

The agency was given a budget of P512 million for replanting next year, against only P60 million this year. Around P354 million was also earmarked for the fertilization of coconut plantations.

“Wala naman talagang problema sa supply. Ngayon lang, kasi nagkakaroon ng magagandang produkto kaya naghahanap ng supply,” Carpio told radio dzMM on Saturday.

Carpio said 3.4 million hectares of the Philippines’ total agricultural lands are planted with coconut.

He said many of the coconut trees in big plantations in Quezon and Camarines Sur are now old and senile. “Kailangan nang i-replace,” he noted.

Meanwhile, a company producing coco water for export is also mulling putting up its own plantations.

Anthony Tiu, chairman and CEO of Agrinurture Inc., said they want to plant coconut in areas near their juice factories.

Agrinurture currently has a factory in Bulacan and is building another one in Camarines Sur.

“We are also eyeing to put up factories in Visayas and Mindanao. So possible areas for plantations would be Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao,” he told abs-cbnNEWS.com.

Agrinurture is the local partner of US-based Vita Coco, which recently pledged to invest $15 million in the Philippine coconut industry.

Right now, the Philippines is the world’s biggest exporter of coconut, mainly coconut oil. Coco oil exports, however, fell by double digits in both volume and value terms in August due in part to lower domestic output.