Is The Coconut A Hard Nut To Crack? Only If Your Coconut Is!
This is a classic case of:
Damned if you do;
Damned if you don't!
And yes it involves our coconuts.
The text above those images in the Facebook sharing of Bahdor Shia said, clipped out but reproduced below (fresh coconut in box for export[1], image from Alibaba.com:
Meeting with the presidents of the coconut growers/planters of the different towns of Bohol together with the Regional Bohol-PCA. The coco farmers groups are “fully supportive of Sec William Dar’s coco initiatives but raise some concerns on the issue of re-planting of aromatic and high-yielding coco varieties. According to the farmers, for the issuance of cutting permit, an applicant has to pay a cutting fee and filing fee with the PCA, certification fee with the barangay and another fee for the chainsaw operator. Sans income because of low price of copra plus the high expenses for the permit to cut, there will be no chance for the coco farmers to revamp old trees and replant new coco varieties unless these concerns are addressed.
Bohol is the historic Philippine town where we find those Chocolate Hills – yes, from afar, they look like drops of chocolate good enough to eat. And there’s plenty of them.
Here, coconut farmers are talking with PCA officers about replanting old coconut groves with aromatic and high-yielding coconut varieties. Now:
The good news will come years later:
The bad news comes now.
Before you replant, you have to cut the old trunks – and before you can bring in any chainsaw operator, you have to pay the PCA 2 fees: for filing and cutting. You also have to pay 2 fees with the barangay: certification and chainsaw operation.
The coconut groups are talking here of coconuts for export – aromatic and high-yielding. But the news did not say that they knew that it was part of “The 8 Paradigms” of Mr Dar’s “The New Thinking for Agriculture” for the Philippines (see #3):
(1) Modernization.(2) Industrialization.(3) Promotion of exports.(4) Consolidation of small- and medium-sized farms(5) Infrastructure development.(6) Higher budget & investment.(7) Legislative support.(8) Roadmap development.
The hesitance to pursue the rehabilitation of the old Bohol coconut groves seems to proceed mainly from the business cost – expenses for clearing and replanting; and opportunity cost – loss of income in the intervening years.
Ah, the
Twixt the optimist and the pessimist
The difference is droll;
The optimist sees the doughnut
Nobody seemed to have suggested it, but if I were there I would have recommended the formation of a coconut export cooperative, the
I am sure Mr Dar will listen to their plea – but first they have to come up with the plan!@
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