Coco tree planting budget approved

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved an additional P1 billion budget for the project of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) to plant 100 million coconut trees all over the country, Malacañang said Tuesday.

In the same meeting, Marcos also approved the P2.5 billion increase for PCA's fertilization program funding.

«So that's why I'm focusing on the production side and that's what we have to increase. The critical part of that is the replanting,» the President said.

Marcos said the market for coconut products is large and growing and has yet to reach its limits.

PCA Administrator Dexter Buted said the additional funding would enable them to plant the 15.3 million trees in 2025.

Under the Philippine Coconut Industry Development Plan 2024-2034, the PCA was mandated to plant/replant a total of 100 million coconut seedlings on 700,000 hectares of land across the country.

The initiative was meant to increase coconut production by 4.7 billion, valued at P33.1 billion by 2034.

The project would be implemented in phases: 8.5 million seedlings in 2024, 15.3 million in 2025, and 25.4 million every year from 2026 to 2028.

The Department of Agriculture would implement intercropping while farmers wait for the trees to bear fruit. Among the crops to be planted include coffee, cacao and bananas.

The Philippine coconut industry has contributed $3.22 billion to the country's export earnings in 2022 or 43 percent of the country's total agricultural exports.