An organic certification is being obtained by a private group for the Philippine coconut sap sugar in an aim to further boost the product's export potential which has already established a market among natural medicine advocates in Canada and the United States.

The Aroman Natural Food Producers Multi Purpose Cooperative in North Cotabato in Aroman, Carmen, North Cotabato has filed an application for organic certification which will attest the cooperative's non use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides on their coconut production process. Such organic certification, usually filed with the Organic Certification Center of the Philippines, is essential to maximizing the health claims of the coconut sap sugar.

Since it was found to have a very low glycemic index of only 35 percent which is advisable for use by diabetics, the coconut sap sugar has gained a market among medical practitioners in the US as led by Dr. Evelyn Tablan, a Filipino doctor.

The group of farmers in Misamis Oriental that originally produced the first commercial coconut sap sugar in the Philippines is also now exporting the product to Canada through a repacking process done in Ontario for the coconut sap sugar brand Coco Natura.

While health benefits for the coconut sugar is still being studied in developed countries, the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) earlier confirmed the low glycemic index (GI)claims for the coconut sap sugar through a scientific study.

"The GI of coconut sap sugar which is very low at 35 percent is an indication that it can be used as natural sweetener. Foods with GI 55 and below are diabetic-friendly. The product was also found to be higher in other nutrient content such as phosphorus, potassium, calcium and chlorine compared to other forms of sugar," reported Bureau of Agricultural Research Applied Communications Head Marlowe U. Aquino.

The commercialized coconut sap sugar, a product resulting from a program of the International Coconut Genetic Resources Network (COGENT) funded by the Asian Development Bank, has been raising coconut farmers' income. If the farmer owns the land and produces his own toddy (unfermented sap taken from coconut inflorescence), Aquino said a farmer can earn P85,080 to as much as P351,883 per hectare per year from coonut sap sugar production. Nevertheless, an entrepreneur that sources the toddy from coconut sap producers can still enjoy a good income of P23,608 to as much as P300,220 per hectare per year.

But coconut production particularly for coconut sugar should be expanded in the country specially if organic certification is sought for this. While the COGENT enabled the commercial production of the coconut sugar technology only during this decade, this technology has long been known in Thailand and Indonesia.

Trainings in local communities of the coconut sugar production helped produce the sugar in larger scale despite limitations in the sap-sugar recovery.

In Misamis ORiental and North Cotabato, coconut trees yield an average of three liters of sap per tree per day. An average of one kilo of healthful coconut sap sugar can be produced from six liters of coconut today.