Without technology, continuing poverty

We will continue to have much poverty if we continue ignoring technology.

Consider our 3.5 million coconut farmers, the poorest agriculture sector. Thanks to the dynamic leadership of administrator Benjamin Madrigal, the Philippine Coconut Authority is focused not only on coconut, but also on the coconut farmers. There are three components involved here: the coconut, intercropping, and financial support. Each needs technology.

Note the different results from traditional compared to the hybrid coconut varieties.

Lack of technology has left our coconut farmers wallowing in poverty. Today, one of three coconut hectares has senile and unproductive trees. Farmers use the traditional variety for replanting to survive. They should instead use the hybrid variety, which produces six times the yield at half the gestation time. Unfortunately, of the 200 million hybrid seedlings we need for replanting, only 1.5 million (less than 1 percent) are available. This comes at a time when the annual budget of the PCA is less than P2 billion, while rice has more than P35 billion. The private sector must now take the slack by producing the missing seedlings. There are only three such seed farms in Pampanga, Palawan and Davao. These should be replicated in other provinces with perks from the government. Aside from the technology intervention, there should be intercropping. Two out of three coconut hectares are practically idle as there is nothing planted in the spaces between coconut trees. Income without intercropping is less than P30,000 a hectare.

Intercropping products such as cacao and coffee (both of which we import for 70 percent of our demand) will increase this income eight-fold to over P250,000. This does not include other products that can be planted using the “dormitory planting” technology.

The third technology that must be harnessed is financial. Currently, our banks are very collateral-oriented. There are new methodologies and computer-aided tools that help ensure loan payback. These include market contracts, cashflow formulations, cluster arrangements and loan guarantee schemes. If we have the hybrid technology and the intercropping method but not the financial creativity to get the resources, this rhetoric will not result in reality and poverty will continue.

On March 22, the PCA, represented by Secretary William Dar, Madrigal, regional manager Dennis Andres, and Research Center’s Ramon Rivera, will cement its partnership in addressing coconut farmer poverty with the Kapampangan Development Foundation (KDF). KDF is led chair Manuel V. Pangilinan and president Benigno Ricafort.

This covers the KDF 30-hectare central seed farm and nursery with dwarf and hybrid seeds for propagation in Luzon, creative intercropping technologies, and innovative fund generation methodologies. The KDF initiative will be accredited by the DA-Agricultural Training Institute to spread the appropriate technologies to Luzon coconut farmers. This kind of government-private sector partnership should be key in the fight against our continuing poverty.

The author is Agriwatch chair, former secretary of Presidential programs and projects and former undersecretary of DA and DTI. Contact is [email protected].