MANILA, Philippines — John Roulac, president and CEO of Nutiva, one of the world’s leading brands of hemp, coconut, and chia foods, and an importer of coconut oils and coco cream, is singing praises for the Philippine coconut, especially the oil, which he considers “superior”. He said that apart from coconut water, which is a current favorite in the U.S., coco cream has seen a great increase in sales in the States, compared to soymilk and almond milk.

This should be good news to hear, but it has not generated the kind of impact it deserves. Coconut, cocoa and coffee are products that are so commonplace in our country that it’s easy to take them for granted. After having our coffee and tsokolate at least once a day, and enjoying the merits of buko juice, coconut oil in our personal care products, and coconut milk in our food, we go on with our days not thinking that these products could easily take our country to higher ground, economics-wise. They are actually high value crops whose domestic demands alone outweigh their supply.

In a recent Good News Kapihan—a project organized by Tina Dumlao of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and entrepreneur Pacita Juan to spread good news to the press—authorities and movers who are working to improve the state of the coconut, cacao and coffee industries revealed the current situations and some news worth looking forward to.

Present were Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Berna Romulo-Puyat, Philippine Coconut Authority Administrator Euclides Forbes, representatives of the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI), CocoaPHIL or Cocoa Foundation of the Philippines, and the COIR or Coconut Industry Reform Movement, Inc., and individuals working with them, including Juan representing coffee, Josephine Ramos for cacao or cocoa, and Jun Castillo of Coconut House, the “virgin coconut industry champion,” a member Coconut-Coffee-Cocoa coalition.

The three groups, PCBI, CocoaPHIL, and COIR have decided to form a friendly coalition called CO3 or CoCoCo, to push for programs as a group with government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, the DENR, the Department of Agrarian Reform, and soon the DTI, and maybe even the Department of Tourism.

State of the three C’s

Eighty percent of Philippine coconuts are actually used for export purposes, with only 20 percent going to domestic requirements. According to Faustino and the COIR, 91 percent of our crops is processed into copra for oil milling, with 9 percent used as fresh nuts for DCN, VCO, coconut cream, nata de coco, etc. here and internationally. Copra remains our top agri-crop dollar earner. The current crops, however, come from trees mostly in their golden years, if not from century-old trees, or as Philippine Coconut Authority Administrator Euclides Forbes put it, “senile trees.”

Coffee is a commodity with a domestic demand of 65,000 MT, while production is 30,000 MT. Cacao, which produces the tablea, the healthiest chocolate, is also lacking in production.

The potential to be super crops producing super earnings

Romulo-Puyat and Forbes were pleased to share that the budget for planting coconut alone, for instance, will increase from R60M to R503M in 2012. Fertilization budget has been increased from R120M to R360M. These translate to 13 million coconut trees planted in 2012 and 20 million trees to be fertilized. Add to these the counterpart funding from the LGUs and private sectors. With three to four years to grow the wide variety, and about seven years for the tall variety, with capacities to be productive up to 60 years, there’s only good that can come out of the current efforts.

Castillo adds that if each coconut farmer planted one coconut per day, there would be 1 billion productive trees by 2020. “In a backyard, two coconut trees can yield one gallon per day, so you can imagine the potential,” says Castillo.

“The current support from the Department of Agriculture has provided a breakthrough for the industry,” says Josephine Ramos. Where the support used to be only in production, they now enjoy the benefits of post-harvest centers owned by the farmers, and buying centers where they can serve both the local—“[which is] a big market; market is not a problem now,” Ramos assures—and the foreign buyers.

Agri-industries growing together

“The challenge is to keep the upward movement and the interest going. The cacao survives with the coconut,” Ramos informs. Where coconut trees are planted, the cacao trees can also grow and thrive. “A 200,000 hectare land with 500 cacao trees (seedlings) would generate 100 metric tons of beans,” she adds, “and this same land can sustain coconut trees, lanzones… which translate to sustainable income.”

PCBI’s Pacita Juan agrees, adding that coffee can also be planted where cacao and coconut are grown. “We need champions to spearhead tree planting efforts and ensure the continuous plantation of new coffee, coconut and cacao trees. The integration of these crops is good for the industries and good for the farmers,” she says.

Juan has been leading efforts to promote local coffee and ensure there is awareness and support provided from the farms all the way to the market place, beginning with the example she is setting via the Echostore and Echomarket, which she set up and operates with Echotrio partners Reena Francisco and Jeannie Javelosa.

Roulac adds that with enough education, information transfer, and the willingness to do it, farmers and movers in the industries can do even better than they have. He works together with suppliers to ensure there is enough information and motivation going. “These industries have the support of the Department,” assures the DA’s Romulo-Puyat.

“These have been industries in waiting, now with the re-planting program and funds for development, and with support from both government and private sectors, there are no more excuses,” asserts Forbes.