PCA to get P1.4-B allocation for 2018

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) will get a P1.4-billion allocation for 2018, the same budget level this year, the bulk of which will be used on the increased planting of coconut trees nationwide.

While PCA failed to get its proposed P3.5 billion budget which should be more than double its current allocation, PCA administrator Romulo dela Rosa said the agency would effectively utilize its approved allocation.

“Our regular budget has already increased to more than one billion from a low of less than a billion in the last few years,” Dela Rosa said in an interview.

The PCA had issues of underspending over the last three years which contributed to the non-approval of a significantly higher budget.

“Our priority next year will be replanting, the bulk of the budget will go to that. We will focus on fertilization and research and development,” Dela Rosa said.

The PCA targets to increase the number of coconut trees by at least 10 million trees this year, 15 million trees in 2018, and 20 million trees every year starting 2019.

The agency is also focusing on other livelihood component such as coconut enterprise and high value coconut products, allowing farmers to deviate from the mere coconut and copra alone to supplement income.

“We also want to strengthen our current markets. We have big markets such as China, Middle East and Russia. We will focus on these,” he added.

Latest data showed that 3.5 million hectares are planted with coconut or 26 percent of the country’s total agricultural land and 68 out of the 81 provinces are coconut areas.

The Philippines is one of the top producers of high quality coconuts and is the second biggest exporter of coconut-based products globally.

Coconut remains one of the top agricultural exports of the country, earning as much as $1.2 to $1.5 billion annually.

Local production slightly bounced back in the second quarter of 2017 with a 0.68 percent growth due to the favorable price in the market and recovery of coconut trees from the dry spell last year.