The coconut is popularly known as the “tree of life” and for good reason. A wide variety of products can be derived from the coconut tree—from its leaves down to its roots. The tree of life provides food, shelter and fuel to millions of consumers all over the world. And some 3.5 million Filipino farmers rely on it for their livelihood.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that as of 2015, some 3.51-million hectares are dedicated to coconut production. Of the 81 Philippine provinces, more than half, or 68 are considered coconut areas. Some 330 million fruit-bearing trees are in these coconut areas, according to the PSA 2015 data.
The coconut industry contributes significantly to the country’s economy. Of the 2.258 million metric tons (MMT) in copra terms produced by the Philippines in 2015, more than half, or nearly 1.49 MMT were exported that year. Among the products shipped by the Philippines include crude coconut oil, cochin oil, dessicated coconut, crude glycerine, coconut-milk powder, coconut-milk liquid, coconut flour, coconut vinegar and coco peat. Among the coconut-based products being exported by the Philippines, the top dollar earner and top farm export is coconut oil.
Data from the PSA showed that in the first four months of the year alone, export receipts from coconut oil have more than doubled to $587.73 million, from $251.67 million recorded from January to April 2016. Revenues from the export of all coconut products during the period reached $664.99 million, more than double the $311.5 million recorded last year.
Current efforts by the West via the American Heart Association to paint coconut oil, also known as lauric oil, as bad for the health could adversely affect Philippine shipments of coconut-based products. The decline in demand caused by the revival of attacks against Philippine coconut, which have been launched in the 1980s, would be disastrous to 3.5 million coconut farmers who are considered smallholders tilling less than 2 hectares of coconut farms.
The new chief of the Philippine Coconut Authority, an agency attached to the Office of the President, vowed the Philippines would take the lead in fighting what appears to be a concerted effort to vilify the coconut. President Duterte and our lawmakers should help the industry by allocating a portion of the P75-billion coconut levy fund for a sustained marketing and information campaign. The country’s Trade and Agriculture attachés, especially those stationed in countries that are considered top buyers of coconut oil, should take the lead in this campaign.
The local coconut industry should close ranks with the government and help educate the public about the benefits of coconut oil. The Asia and Pacific Coconut Community, an intergovernmental organization of coconut-producing countries in Asia Pacific, said the exponential growth of coconut-based products in recent years may have alarmed vegetable-oil producers in the West to again revive the issue against the Philippines’s top farm export. The Philippine government and industry stakeholders should not wait for export receipts to go down drastically, as millions of lives depend on the coconut not for just for profit but for their survival.