PhilMech to build more coco processing facilities

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) is continuing to establish coconut processing facilities in various parts of the Philippines in a bid to boost the country’s coconut industry.

PhilMech said the Bongabong Coconut Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative (BOCOFAMCO) would receive a P27-million coconut processing facility under the Coconut Farmers Industry Development Program – Shared Processing Facility (CFIDP-SPF).

The program is expected to benefit almost 1,500 coconut farmer-members of the coop and other coconut farmers within their vicinity.

The project, which will rise in Brgy. Sagana, Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro, will process white copra and cooking oil, making it the first of its kind in the province.

PhilMech  will also put up a P31-million coconut processing facility for white copra and cooking oil in Brgy. Salingcomot, Baganga, Davao Oriental.

The project, which will be the second to rise in Region XI, but the first in the province of Davao Oriental, is expected to directly benefit almost 580 coconut farmers.

The Agroforestry Farmers Producers Cooperative (AFPC), as the recipient of the facility, will operate and manage the facility.

Baganga Mayor Ronald Lara said they are the first area in the province to establish such a facility.

PhilMech will also introduce the CFIDP-SPF to the coconut industry in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), allowing the region to produce more quality coconut products.

As the fifth top coconut-producing region, BARMM has a total fund allocation of almost P41 million under the CFIDP for establishing various SPF.

The CFIDP-SPF program will officially commence in the region this month upon the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between PhilMech and the region’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform, PhilMech’s Interim head of the Coconut Trust Fund-Field Management and Operation Division, Andres Tuates, Jr. said.

A stakeholders’ consultation meeting and workshop will be held after the MOA signing to formally launch the SPF program.

These events aim to identify qualified project proponents and determine the types of facilities they will propose, based on the situation of the Bangsamoro coconut sector, findings from coconut value chain analysis, and market demand for different coconut products.

Coconut farmers’ cooperatives from Maguindanao and Lanao del Norte, with the potential to manage and operate a coconut processing enterprise, will be invited to participate in the said activity, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 21 to 22.

Member of Parliament (MP) Jaafar “Jambo” Matalam first convened the regional implementing agencies of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan (CFIDP) in January, alongside their counterparts from Bangsamoro offices, to discuss the challenges faced by coconut farmers and how the various components of the plan could drive economic development in the coconut industry of the region.

Earlier, PhilMech said it has shortlisted 27 coconut FCAs as recipients of SPFs that will be funded by the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund (CFITF) as stipulated by Republic Act 11524 or the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act.

In July, PhilMech director Dionisio Alvindia said the agency has also started the process of enabling farmers cooperatives and associations (FCAs) to manage, operate and maintain the SPFs with trainings conducted since early this year, while more coconut FCAs will be added to the shortlist.