Big demand, short supply offers big biz opportunity for Pinoys

MANILA, Philippines - The big demand for makapuno or the mutant nut in the Philippines as well as in other countries offers Filipino businessmen an opportunity to make it big in the business of producing planting materials, or the nut itself. 

The production of “true-to-type” makapuno is now made easy, says Cristeta Cueto, one of the science researcher specialists at the Philippine Coconut Authority Albay Research Center who developed an embryo-cultured makapuno in 2008.

Because of the big demand for makapuno both here and abroad, Cueto said the technology offers a big opportunity for prospective investors to venture into tissue culture laboratory and nursery operations, or to produce the nut itself for domestic and foreign consumption.

Speaking before an investors’ forum at Nido Fortified Science Discovery Center at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City last Wednesday, Cueto cited data from the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) confirming the wide gap between the supply and demand for makapuno nuts. 

In 1999, 134,000 pieces of embryo-cultured makapuno were required to plant 1,160 hectares and serve the eight million makapuno nuts required by the market, she said.

“Since then, massive planting of laboratory-raised seedlings had been encouraged to retain the status of being the largest makapuno nut-producing country among the coconut-growing regions.

Aside from the PCA-Albay Research Center, which has expanded its production in different parts of the country, several private laboratories have also been established to mass produce the “true-to-type” makapuno seedlings. 

“These initiatives, however, covered only about 33 percent of the computed supply-demand gap,” she said.

According to Cueto, a large potential in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and industrial makapuno-based products is waiting to be explored. She cited studies conducted by Dr. Ma. Judith B. Rodriguez of the PCA-ARC in the utilization of the nut’s highly viscous liquid endosperm that has high content of galactomannan, a polysaccharide, which can be used as alternative raw material for the production of hand and body lotion, hand sanitizers, facial masks, hair cream and hair gel, shampoo, conditioner and even as biodegradable edible film.

Cueto said the use of the makapuno embryo culture technology gives rise to true-to-type makapuno seedlings which at reproductive stage, yield 75-100 percent makapuno nuts. 

She said the improved protocol had successfully reduced the planting materials’ growing period from 13 to ten months. Moreover, the protocol had been simplified by doing away with most of the complicated laboratory steps. The shortened period and the simplifications reduced the planting materials’ production cost, she said.

The makapuno embryo culture (ECM) technology is the only available technique for commercial production of true-to-type makapuno planting materials. Investors for the mass production of embryo cultured makapuno seedlings will be provided complete technical training on the developed protocol, she said.