New coconut levy paradigm

At the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries Coco-Cacao Summit on Sept. 18-19, it was decided that a new coconut levy paradigm had to be implemented to give the long-suffering coconut farmers justice and a chance for a better life.

That is in contrast to the status of the coconut levy today which is at risk of once again being manipulated by unconscionable vested interests that would make fools of these farmers.

Sad context

The coconut industry is at its sorriest state today. At no time do we need a new coconut levy paradigm to help this sector.

An average coconut plantation produces only 40 to 50 nuts per hectare a year. Of the 3.1 million coconut hectares, only 1.1 million are considered productive. Twenty five million of our people are dependent on 3.5 million coconut farmers and farm workers. They have the lowest per capita income in agriculture of P41 per day. Thus, they also have the highest poverty incidence at 60 percent.

Coconut levy

The coconut levy that was contributed by our coconut farmers now amounts to P72 billion. However, not a single centavo has been used to help them because of the absence of a law or Executive Order (EO) that will allow access to the levy funds.

There are two tracks that can be used to solve this problem. The legislative track is being pursued by an indirect initiative bill of small coconut farmers led by former House Deputy Speaker Eric Tañada III. Its petitioners filed this bill on May 12 and May 29, 2014, in the House of Representatives and the Senate, respectively. Its petitioners include Alyansa Agrikultura leaders like Lakambini president Cita Esmao, COIR Executive Director Joey Faustino, and Pakisama honorary chair Vic Fabe.

The bill advocates a paradigm where the coco-levy funds become a perpetual trust fund. This way, only the income and interest earnings will be used to help the coconut farmers with the principal remaining permanently intact.

While the summit participants agreed with the legislative initiative, they simultaneously advocated the faster track of an EO while waiting for the proposed bill to be passed. Knowing the long process of legislation, we believe the executive order option should get priority attention.

The draft EO will create the Coconut Farmers’ Trust Fund Coordinating Council (CFTFCC). Its convenors are former Senator Bobby Tañada and former Member of Parliament Oca Santos.

The CFTFCC will aid the Philippine President in coordinating and administering the trust fund, as well as in determining the disposition and utilization of its earnings and income. It will be composed of four representatives from government, two representatives from the finance and banking sectors, and six representatives from the coconut farmers’ organizations.

The Office of the President should fast-track the signing of this EO so that the coconut farmers can finally use the money they own, instead of this money lying idle under the present paradigm at the cost of great suffering by our coconut farmers.

Two competing forces

There are two forces that will hamper the effectiveness of the new proposed trust fund paradigm in alleviating the coconut farmers’ poverty. The first is the strong lobby by some members of the Executive Branch to privatize some of these coconut assets and allocate the proceeds to support the national budget. It is bad enough that the coconut levy has been idle so long. It is worse when a part of this levy owned by the farmers does not even go to them.

The other force is to have a myopic view that the coconut levy should be used solely to promote coconut products. Instead, the levy should concentrate not on coconut products alone, but on coconut farmers. Therefore, it should look at all means available to improve the coconut farmers’ lives.

One proposal is to fund the inter-cropping of cacao between coconut trees. This is because cacao can give more income than coconut. The Coconut-Cacao Summit should therefore be looked upon not just as an avenue to promote coconut and cacao, but also as an example of what other things can be done other than raising coconuts to benefit the coconut farmer.

At the summit, CAMP chair and AF2025 Committee Coordinator Emil Javier said: “The advantage of coconut is the opportunity to make full use of the sunlight filtering between the trees by planting intercrops, both annuals and perennials…. This will provide cash to coconut farmers often far exceeding the revenue of coconut itself.”

If these two hindering forces will be overcome, the new coconut trust fund paradigm will enable the coconut farmers not only to get out of their poverty, but also to chart their own bright future.

(The author is chair of Agriwatch, former Secretary for Presidential Flagship Programs and Projects, and former Undersecretary for Agriculture, Trade and Industry. For inquiries and suggestions, e-mail [email protected] or telefax (02) 8522112.)