The pests in the Department of Agriculture must go!

I was driving through some towns of Batangas last weekend and noticed that there are only a few coconuts standing. In some towns, a row of coconut trees were all yellow in color. This is not the normal color of a healthy coconut tree. They are obviously sick. The scale insects which have plagued the Calabarzon region have killed the trees and our Agriculture Department literally allowed the pests to increase because of negligence. Sanamagan!

The definition of a “pest” is anything who, or that which, is troublesome, noxious, mischievous, or destructive; a nuisance. It is a fatal epidemic disease; a pestilence or a plague. The scale insects are the identified pests that hit our coconut trees but the real pests who allowed its proliferation are the pests that sit behind the office tables of our Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA). These pests should be sprayed with insecticide to stop them from causing us more trouble.

That Senate hearing held last May 12, 2014 on the “Infestation of Coconut Trees in CALABARZON and Other Areas by Coconut Scale Insect and Coconut Leaf Beetle” did not turn out to be a productive one for Senator Villar who chaired the Committee on Agriculture and Food. PCA made several presentations but the officials did not give clearcut solutions to remedy the problem.

The whole spectacle at the Senate with Francis Pangilinan in attendance and the PCA officials: Euclides Forbes, PCA Administrator; Roel Rosales, Deputy Administrator-Operations Branch; and Erlene Manohar, Region 4A Officer-in-Charge only showed the public how shallow and inefficient the PCA efforts have been in addressing the infestation problem. I was dumbfounded to hear PCA’s conclusion that the pests are not from the Philippines. They were actually trying to pass the blame on the Bureau of Immigration who I guess allowed the ‘foreign’ pests to enter our shores. Susmariosep! My alikabok told me that some DA/PCA officials went to Indonesia on a junket trip. I bet they brought in pests back with them.

Senator Cynthia Villar was obviously peeved at the useless report. She was particular about their plan of action but they couldn’t give her a strong and solid report. PCA Region 4A officer-in-charge Erlene Manohar was not able to present any viable plan to stop or contain this infestation problem. As a matter of fact, she admitted that they were wrong in identifying the scale insect. They identified them as local species but found out later that it was not a local one. Before realizing this, they had already adviced the local government officials and some scientist to solve the problem, using the usual way which further aggravated the situation. Pesticides and other chemical solutions presented by the MAP and Jun Catan were also questioned due to their chemical content. UPLB had no contribution at all. Perhaps the best action for everyone was to have resolved it in their own way because the DA/ PCA were useless.

During the hearing DA and PCA were criticized for their slow action in containing the outbreak. Remember, this problem was brought to the attention of DA Secretary Proceso Alcala on his first week as DA Secretary by Francisco Lirio, a former mayor of Tanauan City, where the pest was first reported. He never got any response. It was only in 2012, after he had gone to the media, that Alcala visited the city to see the dying coconut trees. Then silence all over again. The DA Secretary was not present at the Senate hearing.

By the way, the Philippines can lose more than P186 million a year in coconut production because of the infestation. I really hope something can be done about this problem soon.

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Jose Z. Osias, convenor of BalikProbinsya Inc., a countryside entrepreneurship advocacy, wrote a paper on Developing Coconut’s Manufactures. He cited the many life phases the coconut goes through. It is called the tree of life. It isn’t just a coconut palm. It provides food, shelter, livelihood and other human needs.

At first, it’s the source of ubod, a vegetable we enjoy eating as lumpia. Next, its puso (inflorescence) blooms, allowing extraction of tuba (whether it’s cocosap or coconectar is an ongoing debate). A third phase yields buko, the young nut with refreshingly sweet juice. This matures into niyog in the palm’s fourth phase. In its final phase, senile and spent after over 80 years of production, the tree is cut down for coco lumber.

In the lifetime of a coconut tree, its niyog phase is particularly valuable. Its juice may not be as sweet as buko, but niyog is the raw material from which comes virgin coconut oil (VCO), cooking oil, cocoflour, cococoir, cocopeat, coconut milk and many other ingredients for health, beauty and environmental products. The present worldwide coconut craze made possible primarily by buko juice, VCO and coco coir augur well for this agro-industry.

It’s not only the niyog phase that looks promising: the tuba sector also offers potential export winners but tuba output this year is down by 75% (especially in San Juan and Tayabas). With a low glycemic index of 35, cocosugar is gaining a loyal following among diabetics. Cocovinegar can become an alternative to apple cider in European markets while cocosyrup is becoming a sweetener of choice for pancakes and other pastries. The tuba’s amino acids make it also a good source of soy sauce.

Another tuba venture worth watching is upgrading the traditional Philippine liquor called lambanog into a premium spirit comparable to French armagnac, Spanish brandy and single malt Scotch whiskies. Lawrence Lim and Anthony Manguiat of Philippine Craft Distillers, Inc. (PCDI) are already applying modern distillation technologies to lambanog for its premium LAKAN brand, with a formal launch being planned for June 2014.

Other BalikProbinsiya start-ups are taking on tuba’s manufacturing challenges for cocosugar, cocosyrup, cocovinegar and even an organic fertilizer.

Climate Change makes the world more conscious of food integrity, environmental welfare and personal health. As such, developing the tuba and niyog sectors of the coconut agro-industry is certain to accelerate.

All these are welcome developments for coconut farmers in remote rural areas. Improved agricultural cultivation and the value-added from manufacturing finished  products will certainly trigger new livelihoods and lift living standards (possibly resolving our poverty issues) in provinces. This industry will surely improve dollar earnings from many promising export possibilities, of which cocosugar, lambanog, VCO and geotextiles are only the tip of the iceberg. There is an understandable growing concern about the Calabarzon coconut infestation which has already destroyed 2,000,000 coconut trees. Add to this the threat posed by a Climate Change repetition of the Yolanda disaster that devastated close to 40,000,000 trees in the Visayas.

Coconut farmers are right to pressure government authorities not to be complacent on the ineffective Philippine coconut agro-industry under the stewardship of the Philippine Coconut Authority and the Department of Agriculture.

Before it’s too late, the government should think of a substantial coconut levy fund which must be properly deployed. This can prime a major economic turn-around for the industry. In fact, it could tow the entire Philippine economy into a truly inclusive era of growth that could make the nation globally competitive.