Marcos Jr. approves additional P3.5 billion budget for coconut industry

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has approved an additional P3.5-billion outlay for the planting, replanting and fertilization programs of the coconut industry for next year, citing the growing market for its products.

Marcos greenlighted the additional P1-billion budget for the planting and replanting programs and the P2.5-billion outlay for fertilization during a sectoral meeting last Tuesday at Malacañang.

“I have instructed the agencies central to our coconut industry to do whatever is necessary to reclaim our position as the top producer of coconuts and maintain our status as the leading global exporter,” the President said in a Facebook post.

Under the Philippine Coconut Industry Development Plan 2024-2034, the industry seeks to plant 100 million coconut trees until 2028. Among the initiatives to be carried out to achieve the goal is the fertilization program.

Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) administrator Dexter Buted said the P1-billion additional outlay for planting and replanting would allow the agency to plant 15.3 million trees next year.

Under the program, the PCA will plant or replant 100 million coconut seedlings in 700,000 hectares of land by 2028 in various parts of the country to raise coconut production by 4.7 billion valued at P33.1 billion by 2034.

This year, the agency intends to plant 8.5 million seedlings and 25.4 million seedlings every year from 2026 to 2028.

The President instructed the PCA to work closely with the Cooperative Development Authority to consolidate farmers’ groups to allow them to implement the program.

The coconut industry contributed $3.22 billion to the Philippines’ export earnings in 2022 or equivalent to 43 percent of the country’s total agricultural exports.