Coconut seedgarden up

STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan -- A P10-million coconut seed garden-the first in Luzon will be put up in a sprawling 250-hectare lot at the Pangasinan State University (PSU) compound in Infanta town.

Joselito Aquino, provincial manager of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) based here, said that there will be approximately 40,000 coconut seedlings that will come from Mindanao which are expected to be delivered to Infanta sometime in June for this purpose.

This will be parallel to the 1,000-hectare coconut seed garden at Bugsok Island in Palawan owned by former coconut Kingpin Eduardo Cojuangco Aquino said.

Once fully operation, the project, financed primarily by the Coconut Industry Investment Fund, will supply, good quality coconut needs to farmers in Luzon.

Aquino said Pangasinan was chosen as project site because aside from its good soil condition, it has a wider coconut planting area of more than 8,870 hectares based on a research jointly made by the Bureau of Agriculture Statistics and the PCA.

He added that Pangasinan is still the top coconut producer, not Cagayan Valley.