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THINK
about it. The
Philippines
is proud to be known as the world’s top exporter of
coconut (Coco s nucifera L.). For decades Juan de la Cruz dictated the
world price, considering that we exported about 80 percent
of our domestic yield.
But the
Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) has already warned that
the local coconut industry would face supply problems
unless the government steps up plans to rehabilitate and
fertilize old coconut trees in the next two to three
years. Its latest supply forecast also showed a declining
trend since 2005 because of the effects of previous strong
typhoons that hit the country’s coconut-producing regions.
Now,
Indonesia, the world’s largest producer, is fast catching
up by trying to replace its domestic consumption with palm
oil so that it can dominate the global market.
But are we
losing in an emerging global battle for coconut export
supremacy?
Not
really.
For one,
there’s no need to characteristically oversell—if not
exaggerate—the prospects of this so-called “tree of life,”
which has been known for its endless list of products and
by-products for food, shelter and fuel.
A look at
the emerging Philippine varieties could be the key in
helping boost the coconut industry.
A
breakthrough
In San
Ramon , a coastal barangay 22 kilometers west of Zamboanga
City, the PCA has transformed 415 hectares of silty clay
loam of an old penal colony for research and development.
Few may
realize it, but the PCA breeders at the Zamboanga Research
Center have been in the forefront of developing a farmers’
variety that would fit the coconut farmer’s tradition of
planting seeds from any high-yielding tree for successive
cropping.
Since the
late 1970s the PCA has been developing an open-pollinated
variety, or OPV, through the hybridization of hybrids of
six tall coconut cultivars.
As a
result, they have developed a genetically multiancestored
coconut variety that finally combined the outstanding
agronomic qualities of the four local farmers’ traditional
tall varieties (Laguna, Bago Oshiro, Baybay and Tagnanan)
and two foreign varieties (West African and Rennel.)
According
to the PCA, the results of this untried method of coconut
breeding could be the answer to the country’s persistent
need for low-input, high-quality planting material.
As the
first-ever genetically enhanced coconut variety, it
combined high-yield precocity, vigor and durable genetic
stability from generation to generation, said Ramon
Rivera, who heads the center’s breeding and genetics
division.
In
developing the synthetic variety which is now known as PCA
Syn Var 001, Rivera, along with PCA breeders G.A. Santos,
S.M. Rivera, E. Emanuel and G.B. Baylon, noted that to
revive and develop the Philippine coconut industry, there
was a need to promote the use of fertilizers to increase
yield in old strands and accelerate replanting of “senile”
and unproductive palms.
The
hybrids became popular because they grow faster and are
more precocious, apart from producing higher and more
stable yield of copra.
Yet, as
they produce many, but small nuts, they may also have a
short lifespan due to the influence of dwarf parent and
could be unsuitable for the partiality of farmers to use
seeds for a next crop.
Using the
seeds from dwarf x tall hybrid varieties or simply
planting second-generation filial seeds was discouraged,
mainly due to its disastrous results. Technically, the
second-generation seeds were mixtures of all sorts of
individuals resulting from combined effects of open
pollination, cross pollination, self-pollination and
backcrossing that occurs during the time of pollination.
In
overcoming the problem, the PCA focused its breeding
strategy on the farmers’ practice. The idea was to breed
and select coconut planting materials with high and stable
yield. It should also reproduce through open pollination.
In their
research, the PCA breeders found that coconut hybrids were
good, but developing countries such as the Philippines
could hardly sustain their use. As they cited in their
study, “the use of the synthetic variety offered
prospects, but it would take a long time before we can
perfect this unconventional method.”
Yet, they
also quickly pointed out that this unconventional method
of “making ‘hybrids out of hybrids’ could be the cheapest
and sustainable answer to the persistent problem of
supplying elite planting materials for the country’s
planting and replanting program.”
Today the
propagation of the synthetic variety is being considered
by the PCA as the ultimate strategy in the mass
propagation of improved materials.
Sweet,
dwarf and hybrid
Ask a
jet-setting “yuppie” or an expat what coconut variety he
would prefer, and chances are he would say that it’s Thai
aromatic coconut, which has a small nut but with a sweet
juice.
Yet, the
aromatic green dwarf, or AROD, was actually introduced to
the Philippines as early as 1956 by Prof. D.G. Cendaña of
the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture
in Los Baños, Laguna.
He started
planting two seedlings of the variety around his family’s
house, which later became the source for a major study.
The PCA breeders collected the nuts and brought them to
Bago Oshiro, Davao City, where one of the research centers
of the PCA is located.
Out of the
85 or so seed nuts that were grown, only 48 palms turned
“true to type”—dwarf, small nuts, deep green, narrow short
leaflets, and bearing young nuts with uniquely sweet
water. The development of this “sweet strain” of aromatic
coconut was done at the Zamboanga Research Center, where
the major supply for these important planting materials
could be found.
Although
it has yet to become popular in the country, the PCA said
the development of the aromatic coconut presents
tremendous economic opportunities for farmers’ whose areas
are close to urban centers, transit spots and resorts.
The
variety was also registered for buko as its major use with
the National Seed Industry Council of the Department of
Agriculture in August 2000. Since then, it has been
propagated in the provinces of La Union, Quezon, Batangas,
Laguna, Palawan, Negros Occidental, Misamis Oriental,
Davao, Basilan and Zamboanga.
Being
mandated in the collection, conservation and utilization
of genetic resources, the PCA gene bank in
Zamboanga
City
has become one of the most important assemblages of the
aromatic coconut along with local and foreign coconut
ecotypes in the world with emphasis on indigenous
materials
The center
houses a collection of 107 tall varieties, 53 dwarfs and
102 hybrid/line collections.
The
center’s officer in charge Gerardo Baylon said they are
encouraging the private sector to plant more varieties.
“But when you plant it will always boil down to seed
source,” he said.
He said
the government may not be able to cope with the
requirements in terms of quantity, but the private sector
has a “well-developed capacity” for the seed propagation.
Baylon
said that they have recently been flooded with inquiries
on how to invest in coconut plantations—big or small.
“The good
thing here is that you only have to plant once, unlike
with sugar cane,” he said.
At least
15 coconut hybrids have also been recommended by the PCA
for the National Coconut Planting and Replanting Program.
Baylon
said these hybrids possess superior productivity and
tolerance to adverse growing conditions. They can also
produce four to six tons of copra per year and possess
higher-medium-chain fatty-acid contents than the
traditional coconut varieties.
In the
1970s, the main concern of farmers was for their copra, he
said, but now they are addressing also the medium-chain
fatty acid, which is vital in the production of virgin
coconut oil and other emerging coconut products.
While the
Philippine has traditionally relied on the Tall varieties,
the PCA said that lately there is an increasing demand for
the dwarfs, which have become prevalent among hybrids and
new open-pollinated varieties.
At one
time, a business tycoon adopted a popular hybrid variety
from the Ivory Coast, but it turned out to be disastrous
when he tried to propagate it in the Philippines. But
local breeders later proved in regional field trials that
the Philippine dwarfs like the Galas Green or Tacunan
Green varieties passed the standards for young tender
coconuts.
At the PCA
Research Center in Zamboanga, Rivera said they have
patterned their recommendations for the variety based on
the primary purpose of the individual farmer—or investor.
Then they would later suggest if he can venture in
intercropping or just to stick to a monocrop.
Whenever
requested for recommendation, one of the basic proving
questions he used to ask them was, “ito ho bang
itatanim n’yo ay para sa inyo, sa anak n’yo o sa apo n’yo?
[Are you planting this for yourself, your offspring or
your grandchildren?]”
Given the
economic opportunities of the coconut, he would further
ask them, “Ano ho ba ang gusto n’yong produkto—copra,
tuba [for vinegar or coco sugar] o buko? [What product do
you want—copra, tuba or buko]?”
Joel C. Paredes is Program Director of the Biolife News
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