The country's agri opportunities

The big three “Cs” now in the Philippine agriculture scene are coconut, coffee and cacao. These three sectors have formed a formidable coalition (CoCoCo) composed of industry movers and government authorities currently deeply involved in efforts to improve the state of these industries. The organizations involved here are the Philippine Coconut Authority together with the Coconut Industry Reform Movement or COIR, the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. and CocoaPhil, the Cocoa Foundation of the Philippines, all under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture (DA), which has been thoroughly supportive of their efforts.

Lately, of course, Philippine coconut has been in the forefront of the news with the renewed interest in coconut water as an alternative to other health drinks like juices and power drinks, most especially in the United States and we hear in Japan and the Middle East as well. Hence the frantic efforts of many entrepreneurs to come out with bottled coconut water which could very well be our next top export, if this does not turn out to be just a fad. Many businessmen from Batangas which is teeming with coconuts have gotten in touch with local agriculture authorities to get their guidelines on the export standards for this product.

Actually, as much as 80 percent of Philippine coconuts are sent out for export. COIR officials say that 91 percent of our coconut is processed into copra (currently our top agri-crop dollar earner) for oil milling, so a mere nine percent is used for other end-products like virgin coconut oil, nata de coco, canned coco cream, etc. But the bad news is much of the nuts harvested are from very, very old trees which the coconut authorities call “senile” trees, and there is a clear and immediate need to replant new coconut trees. The DA though says that this year, some 13 million coconut trees will be planted and about 20 million trees will be fertilized.

Seeing this basic distribution, I wonder where this leaves the emerging coconut water export sector. Incidentally, coconut water is from mature coconuts which are far more stable as bottled drinks with a longer shelf life as opposed to buko juice which comes from very young coconuts (but which taste a lot better really) and which have a very short shelf life. So our coconut authorities advise would-be entrepreneurs to shift to coconut water instead of the traditional buko juice for bottling.

Coffee, of course, has found a champion in the newly-formed Philippine Coffee Board under the leadership of Ms. Chit Juan, among others. The lady is one of the regular resource persons in Business & Leisure, the TV show, and I have witnessed her passion for and commitment to the Philippine coffee industry, particularly giving special attention to the small farmers of specialty coffee in far-flung sites like Kalinga to share new coffee technologies and help the farmers market their specialty varieties. She admits that it may be a long and steep climb to aspire for dominancy in the global coffee industry, but the Philippines has the capacity to carve a niche for specialty coffee. Our civet coffee, for instance, though harvested in very limited amounts due to the scarcity of civets and consequently their droppings, can be marketed at premium prices, along with other local specialty coffee varieties. Coffee can indeed be a stable industry, with a domestic demand for 65,000 MT annually (mostly for soluble coffee) while our production only stands at 30,000 MT. We currently import a lot of coffee which is a pity since we have the land, the right climate in certain areas and the capacity to grow enough for our needs and maybe even export some.

Cacao is another crop that is so lacking in production. CocoaPhil authorities have identified the big potential areas for cacao as Mindanao (Davao del Sur and del Norte, Dipolog, Basilan, Zamboanga del Sur, Southern Palawan and Southern Luzon (Quezon province) and Kalinga, Apayao, Sorsogon and CamSur and they have set up various nurseries in selected areas, hoping that the areas planted to cacao can be enlarged. The country currently imports a lot of cocoa butter and powder (the biggest users here are Milo and Ovaltine), but we can certainly be self-sustaining if we work hard at it, and CocoaPhil’s target for sustainability is 2016. Cacao, I was told, only grows in the equator, which is perfect for the Philippines.

The golden era of the Philippine cacao is long past with the advent of agrarian reform. Prior to this, we used to have huge plantations of cacao, but with the new programs set in place in 2011, there may still be a bright ray for this industry. CocoaPhil has alliances now with US Aid, USDA and the World Cocoa Foundation for better technology and pest control, cacao farmers’ cooperatives have been reactivated, cacao agri-business centers have been put up in several areas, and they are coordinating with the Philippine Coconut Authority to have cacao plants inter-cropped with the coconut trees to maximize the areas planted to coconut and thus boost farmers’ income.

Among the biggest problems in cacao-growing is the insect pests thriving on the cacao plants and efforts in the past to curb these have been largely unsuccessful. The Department of Science & Technology (DOST) has been lending assistance to the Department of Agriculture in these efforts. Lately, through DOST’s “Balik Scientist Program” which aims to encourage Filipino scientists to come home and share their expertise here, some Filipino scientists have heeded the call. Among them is Ms. Divina M. Amalin, a US-based awardee of the DOST who has been helping in the test management aspect of the cacao industry. She is pursuing the directions of bio-pesticides and botanical extracts over chemical pesticides, citing some native plants that are abundant here. Did you know that our local hot “sili” and madre de cacao have natural insecticidal properties? Her team is also looking at “friendly” insects to combat the cacao pests.

The newly-crafted Philippine Cocoa Map shows a resolve to produce 100,000 metric tons of cacao by 2010. Given that we are now only producing 6,000 MT, with only 3.2 hectares given to cacao plantations, this is indeed a tall order. But CocoaPhil is optimistic that they can reach their target if inter-cropping with coconuts will be achieved and their serious efforts to curb the insect pests are successful.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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