By Sarwell Meniano/PNA
TACLOBAN CITY — Copra price continues to plunge early this year affecting the livelihood of thousands of families in Eastern Visayas (Region 8), the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) regional office here confirmed on Friday.
Farm gate trading price of copra, one of the by-products of coconut, dropped to PHP12.17 per kilogram as of Feb. 21 from PHP31.94 in the same period in 2018 and PHP36.44 in 2017.
“With the declining price, our coconut farmers are hopeless and frustrated. We have to assure them that this is not the end. It’s a matter of providing assistance and we encourage them to go for intercropping,” said PCA Regional Manager Jeffrey Delos Reyes.
The government has no control on the fluctuating copra price since it is dictated by the global oil market dominated by palm oil and soybean oil with a share of 35 percent and 26 percent, respectively.
The copra price drop has been affecting 367,234 coconut farmers in the Eastern Visayas region. It is estimated that 1.83 million people or nearly half of the region’s 4.4 million population are dependent on coconut.
Pulgenio Echon, 57, a coconut farmer from Tambis village in Burauen, Leyte said his income from coconut farming went down to about PHP2,000 quarterly from PHP6,000 early this year.
“Losing PHP4,000 quarterly means less budget to buy food and other needs of our family. The price decline prompted me to look for other jobs such as working in the rice field or plant corn,” said Echon, who has been supporting the needs of four children.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) regional office here said a coconut farming family nets only PHP35,358 a year or PHP2,946 monthly.
This level of income is less than a third of the average income of a family in the region. The situation is much worse for tenants since they only receive 50 percent of the farm, they are taking care of, according to NEDA.
Since late last year, the PCA has been urging farmers in Eastern Visayas to venture into group marketing in the bid to minimize the impact of fluctuating domestic copra price.
Delos Reyes said farmers will earn more from direct selling of copra to oil mills than through traders based in communities.
“The price difference between oil mills and traders is about PHP7 to PHP8 per kilogram. Even if farmers will spend for logistics, they will still earn more from this marketing arrangement,” he added.
Oil mills in Eastern Visayas buy copra at PHP18 per kilogram, more than the PHP12 buying price of traders based in towns and villages.
The Department of Agriculture and PCA has picked Jipapad, Eastern Samar as the pilot area for direct marketing arrangement where coconut farmers have been formed into one group.
Under the direct marketing arrangement, the Department of Agriculture through the Agricultural Credit Policy Council will provide organized coconut farmers groups with working capital to buy the product of members. This will be delivered directly to the oil mills that will pay the farmers at the price the traders are getting.
Copra is the dried meat or kernel of the coconut. Premium oil is extracted from copra. It also yields coconut cake after oil extraction, which is mainly used as feeds for livestock.
