With the expected transmittal of the 2024 national expenditure program to the House today, a senior lawmaker is calling for a scrutiny of the budgetary outlays for the coconut industry with the end in view of restoring the country as a top coconut exporter.
“Hence, sustained higher public spending is crucial to finally lift coconut farmers from poverty and revitalize this industry to achieve its true export potentials through such intervention programs as a massive replanting program using high-yielding varieties and modern farming technologies, provision of access to processing facilities and marketing outlets for exports of value-added products, and farmers’ income augmentation via multi-cropping and animal-raising in their lands,” he said.
Also, there should be an aggressive government effort to help them process and improve their products, the lawmaker said, “so our farmers can cash in on the ever-growing global trend toward a healthy or ‘green’ lifestyle by way of an aggressive promotion and marketing strategy, with a focus on the medicinal, nutritional, and therapeutic value of our processed coconut products.”
Villafuerte said that in CamSur, for instance, investors are most welcome to partner with local entrepreneurs in the processing and export of high-value coconut products. He added that this total land area, representing a fourth of all our country’s arable lands, is planted with 347 million fruit-bearing coconut trees tilled by 2.5 million farmers as of 2019—of whom 49 percent own their lots and 51 percent are landless tenants—and with a combined production of 14.5 million metric tons of nuts.