Capacity-building programs for coconut farmers sought

MANILA, Philippines — The government needs to step up capacity-building programs for coco farmers to develop the industry amid the country’s push to reclaim lead in the global coconut market.

The National Sectoral Committee (NSC) on Coconut of the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) is urging the Department of Agriculture (DA), through the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), to create a technical working group that will develop and harmonize the capacity-building programs for the coconut stakeholders.

The NSC on Coconut issued a resolution, proposing that Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to re-evaluate the skills requirements of the coconut sector and enhance the capacity-building programs towards the development of the industry.

In a recent meeting to discuss the enhancement of capacity-building programs for coconut farmers, ATI deputy director Antonieta Arceo said the trainings conducted by the agency are based on the training needs assessment (TNA), accomplished by the Development Academy of the Philippines.

Meanwhile, other trainings were also carried out in support of the distribution programs of the DA.

“We will have another TNA later this year and that will be the basis of the trainings next year, as a response to the resolution forwarded to us,” Arceo said.

On the other hand, Yvette Joy Lazada of TESDA expressed the agency’s openness to facilitate the development of the needed programs that have no existing Training Regulations (TR) with the help of the industry players.

The TR defines the competency standards for a national qualification, containing the competency-based curriculum, instructional materials and competency assessment tools.

Lazada also presented TESDA’s 2023 Work and Financial Plan, as well as the agency’s programs and initiatives under the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan (CFIDP).

This included the Coconut Farmers Scholarship Program and the list of initially identified skills requirements, validated by the PCA, including the ongoing survey with PCA to determine the priority qualifications/skills in every region.

In line with this, the NSC on Coconut also requested to intensify the information dissemination campaign on the CFIDP to expand the reach of stakeholders, especially those in remote areas.

Earlier this month, the PCA has set a target to plant 100 million trees to reclaim its leading position in the global coconut market.

PCA deputy administrator Roel Rosales had said the Philippines used to be the top producer of coconuts worldwide.

But in recent years, Indonesia then India have overtaken the country, which now fell to the third spot.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed coconut production stayed at the 14 million metric tons (MT) in the past three years.