Marcos wants more coconut processing facilities in PH

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said he wants more coconut processing facilities in the country.

At the inauguration of the Integrated Coconut Processing Facility in Misamis Oriental on Tuesday, Marcos said he was surprised that it was the first processing center for coconut, even though the Philippines is “one of the largest coconut-producing nations in the world.”

“Isipin natin kung itong ganitong klaseng processing center ay pakakalatin natin sa buong Pilipinas. Baka makabalik ako rito bago ako magtapos, sasabihin ko, number one na tayo,” Marcos said.

(If we have processing centers like these across the Philippines, we might be able to reach number one before my term ends.)

“'Yung coconut talaga iyon ang pinakamaganda. Iyon ang ano natin eh miracle product para sa Pilipinas ang coconut. Dahil very popular sa buong mundo ang produktong coconut at kayang-kaya natin mag-alaga at magparami ng ating mga niyog, at malaki ang market sa labas at marunong na tayong gumawa. Ang kulang lang ganitong klaseng mga processing plant kagaya ng sa bigas, kagaya sa palay,” he added.

(Coconut is the best. It’s the miracle product of the Philippines. Its products are very popular in the world, and we can hike the production of coconut products, and the market for them is huge. What is missing is a processing facility that is similar to one that processes rice.)

The P350-million Integrated Coconut Processing Facility aims to turn coconut into a local economic driver by producing high-value coconut products and targeting an increase in the farm gate price from P8-9 per nut to at least P16-18/nut.

The SUnRISE (Solving Unemployment through Rural Industrialization, Sustainable and Enterprise) project promotes the processing of coconut products beyond the traditional copra.

These include cocopallets/cocoboards, activated carbon, virgin coconut oil/cooking oil, coco flour, skim milk, and coco water, which is eyed to contribute to the government's efforts to single-digit poverty incidence by 2028.

Marcos said this facility could benefit around 66,000 coconut farmers in Misamis Oriental.

This will also create employment for at least 2,500 Filipinos, Marcos said.

In the same event, farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs) and local government units from Cagayan de Oro City and Misamis Oriental received agricultural interventions from the Department of Agriculture - Regional Field Office 10 (DA-Northern Mindanao), its attached agency, the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (DA-PHilMech), and from a public-private partnership focused on the development of the coconut industry.

Rice farming technologies, worth P78.1 million, were also awarded to farmer beneficiaries under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF). — VBL, GMA Integrated News