A TOP official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Davao del Sur provincial office has urged coconut farmers to focus on value-added products as a way of coping with the declining copra prices.

DTI Provincial Director Delia M. Ayano said Dabawenyo coconut farmers must be more innovative to be able to earn more.

One of the value-added products that the farmers could make is coco coir.

“When we talk about the coconut, we talk about value-adding. But for us we also focus on the rising coco coir industry. As for the trade department’s intervention, we have already provided four shared-services facilities (SSF) in the whole region where there are decorticating machines, ” Ayano said.

Ayano added the rising coco coir industry has a huge market for Dabawenyo farmers since these coconut fibers are used as geo-nets, which help prevent landslides.

“Also, farmers can opt in venturing to food industry for coconuts like creating coconut oils, and the demand for coconut water is also rising in Europe,” Ayano added.

The trade officer also invited farmers to avail of DTI’s SSF in their provinces in order to learn technical skills which can be useful in value-adding coconut produce.