May 10,2012 Coconut Market Perspective Abroad Is High-Nierva By Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr. Kuting Reef, Macrohon, So, Leyte-The coconut market perspective abroad is high. This was the disclosure of Philippine Coconut Authority(PCA) regional manager Edilberto Nierva in reaction to Prof.Guindolino Gerona’s discussion concerning the so-called “greening economy” where the latter presented detailed investment opportunities on how coconut could be mass produced in every province of region 8(Leyte and Samar)where coconut is one of the dominant crops. With optimism in the prospect of coconut replanting and propagations by hundreds of hectarages, salt fertilization program of the Philippines Coconut Authority would increase yields of nuts to 173M a year. Nierva claimed the figure would double in three years time. He said that 19,000 hectares planted to coconut was scheduled for salt fertilization which would greatly help boost production. The PCA regional manager disclosed that there’s also an P8M funds for participatory coco planting program where coco farmers would be paid P1 per seed planted in their own farms. “This means that for one thousand coco seeds planted, a farmer would earn P1, 000.00.”, he said. To do this, he said, establishing of nurseries in different LGUs in region 8 would be done where only selected seedlings would be planted. A delegate from Samar reacted to Nierva’s presentation regarding the bright future of the coconut industry by suggesting that cutting of coco trees for lumber should be banned. Nierva told the unidentified delegate that coconut cutting is not being banned but regulated, implying that senile coco should be the priority for cutting for lumber materials and not the fruit-bearing coco. He divulged that to date there are 7M senile coco trees in the region that need to be cut and replace it with new seedlings. Senile coco trees refer to old coconuts that have stopped bearing fruits. Nierva also claimed that the coco industry is very bright despite of the brontispa infestation affecting some areas. He likewise asked the farmers and concerned group to give their full support for its development. He further encouraged all the coco farmers and lot owners who planted coco trees to practice the intercropping method under coco plantations to increase production and income. Plants that are suitable for intercropping are coffee preferably the Robusta variety, bananas, rootcrops and some vegetables and fruits. He added that a Korean investor has expressed his interest to build production of biomass from the coco debris here in this region. Another investor is likewise planning to construct an ultra-high technology temperature coco water processing plant. Some coconut products are coco meat, milk, coco water, coco juice, coco candy, shells, and husk. (Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)