LEGAZPI CITY—Despite reeling from the effects of past and recent disasters, Albay province remains steadfast in reclaiming the glory of being one of the country’s leading coconut producers by planting 15 million new coco trees on a 150,000-hectare plantation by 2010.

At present, the province already has 9 million healthy-growing new trees and 2 million more would be planted under the Participatory Coconut Planting Project (PCPP) of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) within this year, PCA Albay provincial manager Edmundo Bailon said Thursday.

A P44-million fund has been allocated for this year-round planting activities—P37 million coming from the PCA in form of planting materials and compensations to cocoteros (coconut farmer), P5 million from the provincial government, and P2 million from the Italian Cooperation (Cooperacion Italiana), Bailon said.

Last week the PCA turned over 8,000 coco seedlings to participating farmers in the province as the initial part of this year’s planting quota, he said.

The province would need at least P106 million more to plant the next 4 million trees to complete the 15 million target by 2010, he added.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda has assured that the province would look for funding to realize this goal, with the provincial government taking charge of the project implementation.

With Albay becoming once more a major coconut producer when the 15 million trees start yielding nuts after 2010, Salceda said he is confident that the province’s coco farmers would be able to exploit higher copra prices.

“Moreover, it would attract new investments that could revive the operations of mothballed coco mills in the province and be able to reopen more employment opportunities for the local work force,” he said.

Albay plays host to at least three giant coconut-oil mills whose operations were limited recently due to low supply of copra for the past two years.

The series of supertyphoons that triggered flash floods from Mount Mayon in late 2006 destroyed about 5  million mature coco trees across the province. About half a million more were damaged by floods and landslides due to heavy rains last week.

“Those disasters would not deter us from working harder to reclaim our lost glory of being the top coconut producer in the Bicol region and one of the leading copra suppliers in the country,” Salceda said.

Under the PCPP, each cocotero is paid P20 at once for every nut prepared for germination and additional P5 for each seedling that grows by at least two feet high. After six months, another P5 is given to cocoteros for every surviving tree planted on his farm, Bailon said.

The PCA uses seedlings from a tested local variety that takes only seven to eight years to become productive, he said.

Consumers, particularly those in the Visayas and Mindanao, should brace themselves for higher prices of pork products due to the tightness in local supply.

CANBERRA’S Australian Agency for International Development (Ausaid) has extended a grant of $800,000 (P32 million) for the second phase of a project to totally eradicate foot and mouth disease (FMD) among hogs in the Philippines.

LEGAZPI CITY—Despite reeling from the effects of past and recent disasters, Albay province remains steadfast in reclaiming the glory of being one of the country’s leading coconut producers by planting 15 million new coco trees on a 150,000-hectare plantation by 2010.

PALAUIG, Zambales—The government is stepping up effort to turn idle and what used to be unproductive agricultural lands of this town into a major food producer, with the introduction of off-season vegetable production.

CANDELARIA, Zambales—A couple from this sleepy agricultural town is now trailblazing the way to how to become successful agribusinessmen from being “landless” farmers.

Mariwasa Siam Ceramics Inc., the biggest ceramic tile-manufacturing company in the Philippines, is upbeat that it will have a decisive finish in 2008.

TARGETING to institutionalize the local natural-gas industry, the Department of Energy (DOE) has entered into an agreement with the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) for the development of a mechanism for organizing the Philippine Natural Gas Institute.