DA chief Dar calls for passage of Coconut Trust Fund bill

Agriculture Secretary William Dar on Thursday called for the passage into law of a measure that will use the multi-billion coco levy fund to uplift the livelihood of farmers and sustain the development of the Philippines’ coconut industry.

“Reiterating what Senator [Cynthia] Villar said on the urgent need to utilize the coconut levy, we need to be firm with our support and have a clear position on Senate Bill 1396 and the HOR (House of Representatives) version to finally come up with a law,” Dar said in a statement.

“It is ironic that while we are the world’s second-largest producer and number one exporter of coconut products in 2018, our coconut sector contributed a measly 4% to our gross value-added in agriculture in 2019,” he added.

Dar was referring to Senate Bill No.1396, or the “Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act,” recently re-filed by Villar, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food.

SB 1396 is a consolidation of the bills filed by Senators Villar, Francis Pangilinan, Ralph Recto, and Imee Marcos aimed at creating a coconut farmers and industry trust fund that will utilize and manage of the multi-billion peso coconut levy imposed on farmers under the Marcos administration.

According to the Philippine Coconut Authority, the total fund is now estimated to have grown to at least P80 billion in cash, and billions more worth of assets.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives, meanwhile, is yet to approve a substitute bill that consolidates 17 previous measures to establish a coconut farmers and industry trust fund.

Among the salient features of the Senate Bill No. 1396 include the components of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan (CFIDP), allocation of the trust fund, composition of the PCA Board, and disposition of non-cash assets.

CFIDP proposes that the trust fund would have a lifespan of 99 years, and should bankroll 10 major components, including:

• Shared facilities program
• Farm improvement
• Empowerment of coconut farmer’s organizations and cooperatives
• Scholarship program
• Health and medical program
• Credit support
• Development of hybrid coconut seed farms and nurseries
• Infrastructure development
• Training of farmers in farm schools
• Planting and replanting activities

Dar said the proceeds of the coco levy will benefit 2.5 million coconut farmers and their families as well as the coconut industry in general.

“The transformation of the coconut industry requires getting our acts together by aligning our strategic measures with the new way of thinking taking place in agriculture. All of us need to look ahead and focus on the concerns of the impoverished rural sector, including the coconut farmers,” Dar added.

“Now, more than ever, we must unleash the vast economic potentials of our coconut industry. And we need to continuously empower coconut farmers towards resilience and prosperity,” he added.

For his part, PCA Deputy Administrator Roel Rosales noted that major reasons for declining coconut productivity are dwindling planted areas and low yields.

“Total area planted to coconut has been declining through the years, estimated at 3.6 million hectares in 2018, planted to about 347 million bearing trees, that yield a measly average of 44 nuts per tree annually,” Rosales said.

“While we are replanting with high-yielding coconut varieties, our efforts are not enough due to limited budget. But with the coconut industry trust fund, we could do much more,” he added. —LBG, GMA News