UCPB extends helping hand to coco farmers

United Coconut Planters Bank has embarked on a coconut nursery project to give farmers easy access to good planting materials, allowing them to replace old unproductive coconut trees and expand the size of their plantations.

The bank, through UCPB-CIIF Foundation, has teamed up with coconut farmer cooperatives in Quezon, Masbate, Camarines Norte, Iloilo, Agusan Sur and Surigao Sur, to establish coconut nurseries in their respective areas. With the assistance of the Philippine Coconut Authority, good sources of seednuts free from disease have been identified, the foundation said in a statement.

UCPB-CIIF also reported that 1,050 coconut farmers were able to access around 105,000 good-quality coconut seedlings at cost instead of paying higher prices from commercial nurseries.

In 2009, the foundation launched “Tara Na at Mag-Organic Farming Project,” training coconut farmers on cost-effective organic or natural farming techniques.

UCPB-CIIF Foundation also tapped its pool of scholars who were trained on natural or organic farming techniques in Don Bosco Training Center in Legazpi City, Iloilo, and Davao Oriental. The scholars held lectures and training for coconut farmers of cooperatives accredited by UCPB-CIIF Finance and Development Corp. The participants are expected to apply the skills they have learned in their own vegetable gardens to augment their income.