IN A bid to boost the country's coconut industry, the Philippine Coconut Authority-Davao Region (PCA-Davao) is set to plant one million coconut trees, with plans to expand and strengthen the region’s position as a major supplier of coconuts and coconut-based products.
Grace Orilla, the Project Development Officer-IV of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) in Davao, revealed in an ambush interview with the Davao media on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, that a massive coconut replanting initiative will soon take place across the region. The project aims to plant millions of coconut trees across 6,000 hectares, with a specific focus on Davao Oriental and Davao del Sur.
These two provinces are being prioritized due to the challenges posed by the ongoing El Niño phenomenon and the fact that some of the existing coconut trees in the area are already aging, making them more vulnerable to calamities.
"Daghan tay mga intervention aron mapadaghan ang atong production. Naa tay mga programa sama sa coconut planting ug paghatag og abono. Kasagaran sa mga planting materials nga among gihatag kay mga salt fertilizer," Orilla said during the PCA’s special participation in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing between Damosa Land and Thai Coconut Public Company Limited (CoCoCo), held at the Anflo Industrial Estate (AIE) in Panabo City, Davao del Norte.
(We have various interventions to increase our production. We have programs like coconut planting and the distribution of fertilizers. Most of the planting materials we provide are salt fertilizers).
According to the official, this initiative is also part of the government's broader efforts to plant hundreds of millions of coconut trees by the end of 2028 to address the impact of climate change on agriculture and ensure that the coconut sector remains competitive and resilient in the face of unpredictable weather patterns.
The official explained that as the global climate crisis continues to intensify, ensuring the sustainability and competitiveness of the coconut sector is critical for long-term economic stability, especially in rural areas where coconut farming is a primary source of income. The large-scale replanting effort will be pivotal in maintaining the Philippines' position as one of the world’s leading coconut producers while safeguarding the future of the industry against unpredictable weather events and other environmental challenges.
In 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority-Davao Region (PSA-Davao) reported that the region was the largest producer of coconut during the quarter, with an output of 461,070 metric tons, accounting for a 13.5 percent share. Following closely in the top three regions with the highest coconut production were Northern Mindanao and the Zamboanga Peninsula, with respective outputs of 452,330 metric tons (13.3 percent) and 437,600 metric tons (12.8 percent).
The area planted with coconut from January to June 2023 totaled 3.62 million hectares, reflecting a 0.6 percent increase compared to the same period in 2022, which was 3.59 million hectares. DEF
