“Coconut” is an english term derived from the word “Coco”, a Spanish Portuguese word that means “monkey face” due to the three round markings found it’s base. The coconut fruit spread to many tropical countries through ocean currents and was used throughout South Asia for many purposes.
These fruits were used to purchase goods by the residents of Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean until the early part of the 20th Century. Botanically known as “cocos nucifera”, this nut bearing tree became productive in Southeastern Asia, South America, Pacific Islands, Hawaii and Florida. The coconut’s lightweight fibrous husk made it easy to propagate on the oceans and was discovered abruptly and introduced to many tropical countries. The coconut industry in the Philippines was developed when a Spanish Governor submitted a decree on planting coconuts in 1642 to be used as food and in building of galleons.
The most famous type of palm tree is the coconut tree. It is said to be the “tree of life”, basically due to its ability to provide almost all of what is necessary for living. Its coconut fruit provides so many uses such as water for drinking, sugar, oil, and meat. Its shell is used as dish plate or cup for the natives and is processed as charcoal. The husks are used as source of fire for cooking, brushes, mats, ropes and fishnets. A fermented toddy or drink is also made from the coconut sap. Coconut oil is saturated oil, made from dried coconut meat, used for commercial frying and in candies and margarines, as well as in non-edible products such as soaps and cosmetics. Other products made out of coconut are desiccated coconut, coconut cream, coconut milk, virgin coconut oil, and coconut vinegar. Civilization has put coconut very useful nowadays. Several technologies for making a variety of coconut-based products have been adopted that made coconut one of the high valued crops in the Philippines.
The lore of the coconut is wide and varied, with it always portrayed as an item of great value. Although it takes up to a year for coconuts to mature, the trees bloom up to thirteen times a year. Fruit is constantly forming, thus yielding a continuous harvest year-round. In 2008, the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations released a spotlight article for coconut water as a “New Sports Drink”, an unexpected competitor of sports beverage. A new process of bottling coconut water using a new technology to retain its original content was officially submitted during late 1997 in the UK, Canada and Japan. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization is continually developing a license policy so that the process can be available to a wide range of manufacturers. Main beneficiaries of this new technology aside from the sports people are the tropical countries that process export coconuts such as Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines. The provincial government of Cotabato has long been boosting coconut industry development to improve the economic condition of the farmers. Different programs were implemented over the past years where coconut farmers can avail a plant now pay later scheme.
These programs have provided specialized training and introduced sets of technological workshops to teach the farmers on how to practice a sustainable agriculture through new farming approaches. Cotabato Governor Emmylou “Lala” Taliño–Mendoza has approved a budget of 2 Million for the Coconut Program in the province for year 2011. The Provincial Agriculturist’s Office (OPA) will be coordinating with the Philippine Coconut Authority to continually identify the areas for coconut plantation and to develop new technologies for coconut manufacturing. Farmers will be able to take advantage of this program through a plant now pay later scheme. The OPA is also currently completing the evaluation report on the utilization of the funds allocated for the coconut program in the years 2009 and 2010. Any excess on said funds will be added in this year’s (2011) budget. According to the OPA, as of December 2010, Cotabato Province has a total potential area of 78,727 hectares for coconut plantations. Total Area devoted to Coconut plantation is 42,640.39 hectares with 4,227,791 coconut trees planted. The Municipality of Pikit ranks first with a total area of 6,134 hectares planted with 538,675 coconut trees.
Kidapawan City ranks second with 4,548.85 hectares planted with 422,456 coconut trees. Cotabato Province has an average yield of 1.48 Metric Tons/ha/year with a total nut production of 233,161,305. The OPA recorded a total of 23,283 coconut farmers in the province as of December 2010.
COCONUT PRODUCTION as of December 2010
Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAg)
| District / Municipality | Potential Area (has) | Areas Planted (has) | Number of Coconut Trees | Total Production | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bearing | Non bearing | Total | ||||
| DISTRICT I | ||||||
| Alamada | 9,276.00 | 3,001.55 | 250,491.00 | 49,823.00 | 300,314.00 | 17,534,370 |
| Aleosan | 1,681.00 | 1,513.66 | 111,611.00 | 40,495.00 | 152,106.00 | 4,464,440 |
| Banisilan | 9,923.00 | 349.00 | 11,195.00 | 23,705.00 | 34,900.00 | 447,800 |
| Carmen | 34,323.00 | 2,720.56 | 262,480.00 | 44,913.00 | 307,393.00 | 15,748,800 |
| Kabacan | 0.00 | 1,603.40 | 158,100.00 | 8,231.00 | 166,331.00 | 10,434,600 |
| Libungan | 55.00 | 2,220.57 | 191,648.00 | 32,576.00 | 224,224.00 | 11,498,880 |
| Midsayap | 251.00 | 2,957.97 | 278,538.00 | 21,653.00 | 300,191.00 | 16,712,280 |
| Pigcawayan | 84.00 | 2,569.62 | 197,493.00 | 63,342.00 | 260,835.00 | 9,874,653 |
| Pikit | 0.00 | 6,134.37 | 538,675.00 | 97,932.00 | 636,607.00 | 37,707,250 |
| DISTRICT II | ||||||
| Antipas | 1,815.00 | 772.14 | 50,494.00 | 35,238.00 | 85,732.00 | 2,019,760 |
| Arakan | 1,569.00 | 826.84 | 44,572.00 | 35,323.00 | 79,895.00 | 1,337,160 |
| Kidapawan | 0.00 | 4,548.85 | 422,456.00 | 32,105.00 | 454,561.00 | 35,908,760 |
| Magpet | 3,377.00 | 3,296.95 | 214,183.00 | 51,661.00 | 265,844.00 | 17,143,640 |
| Makilala | 0.00 | 3,614.36 | 306,540.00 | 50,626.00 | 357,166.00 | 22,990,500 |
| Matalam | 9,649.00 | 1,543.40 | 128,241.00 | 20,624.00 | 148,865.00 | 6,412,050 |
| Mlang | 0.00 | 1,772.88 | 127,411.00 | 10,572.00 | 137,983.00 | 6,370,550 |
| President Roxas | 4,643.00 | 1,983.93 | 170,469.00 | 28,189.00 | 198,658.00 | 11,591,892 |
| Tulunan | 1,525.00 | 1,210.34 | 82,882.00 | 33,304.00 | 116,186.00 | 4,972,920 |
| TOTAL | 78,171.00 | 42,640.39 | 3,547,479.00 | 680,312.00 | 4,227,791.00 | 233,170,305 |