Farmers receive first processing facility funded by coco levy

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) has turned over to a coconut farmers group in Surigao Del Norte its first ever coconut shared processing facility financed by the coconut levy fund.

The attached agency of the Department of Agriculture said it gave a P5.17-million coconut shared processing facility (SPF) to the Mabini United Farmers Cooperative in Placer, Surigao Del Norte.

The facility, capable of producing cocopeat and geonet,  was built on the land owned by the cooperative that has at least 127 members who are all coconut farmers, according to the agency.

The facility marks the first under the SPF component of the P75-billion Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan two years after the government launched the roadmap outlining how the coconut levy fund would be used.

The SPF component receives a 10 percent share of the fund pool that is meant to be used for the procurement and establishment of shared facilities for the coconut value-adding and processing.

PhilMech said the facility has an internal rate of return of 171.74 percent given the growing demand for geonet and cocopeat.

This means that project would generate a P10.30 earning for every peso investment made with an estimated payback period of less than a year.

“In this case, the relatively short payback period suggests the project can generate sufficient cash flows to cover its initial investment within a reasonable timeframe,” it said.

The agency said farmers could now use their coconut husks as raw materials for the shared facility instead of just discarding them as farm waste.

The facility requires 5,000 coconuts husks per production run.

Farmers usually throw coconut husks as waste or use them to produce charcoal, according to PhilMech.

Under the SPF component, farmers can receive various establishments, processing plants and equipment needed to manufacture other coconut-based products such as buying stations, coconut coir processing plant, integrated processing center, among others.

Some of the products covered by the SPF are coconut oil, desiccated coconut, coconut coir, coconut shell, coconut sap and young coconut.