Philippines plans to add more value to coco juice

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is looking to add more value to the coconut industry by blending coco juice  with fruits or vegetables amid a global demand for healthier products.

The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) is developing a technology for coconut farmers’ cooperatives to capacitate them to produce fruit- and vegetable-blended coconut juice.

This is part of the agency’s thrust to assist coconut farmers to venture into value adding.

Coconut water at the farms are mostly thrown away when farmers extract matured coconut for drying to produce copra, which are then sold to oil mills to produce coconut oil.

The ongoing project, titled “Establishment of Small-Scale Fruit/Vegetables-blended Coconut Water Enterprise,” will allow coconut farmers to venture into value-adding and not be too dependent on copra (dried coconut meat), PHilMech director Dionisio Alvindia said.

He said the project was initiated in response to the   pandemic and will have a long-term benefit on coconut farmers who can exploit the potential of coconut water to boost their incomes.

“And we at PHilMech are pushing a project that also involves the development of equipment to produce fruit- and vegetable-blended coconut beverage by farmers’ cooperatives,” Alvindia said.

The PhilMech official also said there is also a growing market for products that are healthier compared to other types of beverages widely available in the market.

“Among these are products made from coconut water. So, we at PHilMech also aim to provide the technology and system for coconut farmers’ cooperatives to produce fruit- and vegetable-blended coconut beverage using their own raw materials,” he said.

PHilMech kicked off the technology demonstration of the technology and system to produce fruit- and vegetable-blended coconut beverage last August in Giporlos, Samar.

As part of its mandate under Republic Act 11524 or the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act, PhilMech will establish shared facilities for coconut farmers cooperatives and local government units.

The shared facilities will have various types of equipment that will allow coconut farmers to enter the value chain of the commodity.

Alvindia earlier said the agency has already developed a village level coconut water processing technology and system and the Greenhouse Solar Tunnel Dryer (GSTD) that coconut farmers’ cooperatives can easily adopt.

The coconut water processing technology can process up to 2,000 nuts, approximately 2,000 bottles (350 mL) coconut water per day.

Meanwhile, the MCSTD can dry coconut meat using heat from the sun, while producing white copra and protecting the produce from contamination. White copra has a higher market value compared to copra that is dark after drying.

Under Section 4 of RA 11524, PHilMech is mandated to establish shared facilities for coconut farmers cooperatives and local government units, using 10 percent of the P75-billion Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund.