President Aquino should compel PCA authorities to change the method that uses neonicotinoids, allegedly a toxic chemical which is doing the coconut industry more harm and may cause a total loss of the world market for coconut products.
The PCA method of injecting neonicotinoids into coconut trees make the coconut water sour and the meat (buko) unfit for human consumption. If foreign buyers learn our coconut is injected with toxic chemical, we can kiss the burgeoning international market goodbye.
What happens then to the poor coco farmers, their families and the industry itself? What matters to some officials probably are the millions of pesos in commission from the local distributor of the chemical product.
The coconut scale insects (cocolisap) had allegedly been known to the PCA as early as 2009 but did not do anything about it until it blew into a crisis. If it was a gambit, it paid off because it made P-Noy issue Executive Order No. 169 allocating P700 million for use against the devastating coconut menace. How they will utilize the fund, only the PCA people know.
The President should order a change in the method (of CSI treatment) and give Filipino inventors a chance to prove their method. There are locally-made products that have been found effective against insects of this kind.
Mapecon Green Charcoal Philippines, a 100 percent Filipino company, For instance has its Botanical Insects Regulator (BIG RI and R2) that have been found effective against coconut pests.
The PTV4 Good Morning Boss and TV5 Evening News, aired last June 16, showed coconut trees in Alaminos, Laguna that used to be heavily infected with CSI, are again bearing fruit after being treated with BIG RI & 2
BIG RI & 2 won a silver medal in the 1999 International Invention Contest held in Geneva, Switzerland. For over 20 years, Mapecon had a Pest Control Agreement with the city of Jakarta, Indonesia. — GERRY CONSTANTINO, Muntinlupa City