Coconut stakeholders to draft 'magna carta'

MANILA, Philippines - Stakeholders in the coconut industry will start drafting a “magna carta” set new directions for the industry and guarantee the rights and privileges of small farmers, in a consultative conference in Cebu City from April 15 to 17, 2009.

The One Alliance of Coconut Planters and Processors’ Associations, Inc. (1Alliance) is organizing the three-day consultative conference to assess the condition and prospects of the coconut industry on which some 3.25 million Filipino farmers are dependent for their livelihood.

The consultative conference will draft a magna carta that would set new directions for the industry, govern its future workings, and guarantee the rights and privileges of small farmers.

A draft law will also be presented to President Arroyo for her endorsement to Congress as part of her contribution to the coconut industry that remains one of the country’s top agricultural exports.

The consultative conference will gather suggestions that would be included in the new magna carta to make the coconut industry more profitable and help the industry withstand the global economic crisis.

About 100 participants have been selected from the ranks of planters, farm workers, processors and traders in the coconut industry will attend the conference.

Yvonne T. Agustin, executive director of the United Coconut Association of the Philippines, will present a comprehensive picture of the coconut industry. Danilo M. Coronacion, former administrator of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) and current president and chief executive Officer (CEO) of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF)-Oil Mills Group, will present prospects which are open to the industry in the midst of the global economic crisis.

Lawyer Narciso P. Nario, Jr., president of 1Alliance, said the results of the Cebu consultative conference will be presented to the industry’s other stakeholders in a series of consultative conferences to be held in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao later this year.  At the end of these consultations, a draft magna carta shall be presented to regional stakeholders for their comments and approval.