Coco farmers in Pablo-hit areas receive P8.6 million cash incentives from PCA

DAVAO ORIENTAL— The Philippine Coconut Authority has recently distributed cash incentives amounting to P8.6 million to 957 coconut farmers in the typhoon Pablo-hit towns of Baganga, Cateel and Boston in the province of Davao Oriental.

PCA XI Regional Manager, Rex Buac, said that this was only the initial cash distribution as the agency intends to complete the payouts by the end of August in all the remaining covered barangays here.

Implemented under the Modified Participatory Coconut Planting Project, the program adopts a participatory and reward system approach, wherein farmers are given a P40 incentive for each seedling planted and stabilized, out from their own produced planting materials.

Stemming from the agency’s regular PCPP, the Modified PCPP hopes to support rehabilitation efforts in the towns drastically hit by typhoon Pablo here in the province.

Based on reports from the PCA, the Modified PCPP involves a total of 1,741 coco farmers in the three hard-hit towns, covering a total of about 4,000 hectares and earmarked with a budget of P16.6 million. The 8 remaining towns of the province, on the other hand, will fall under the regular PCPP, allotted with a P2.8 million budget. 

This program, according to Buac is PCA’s tactic to sustain the country’s coconut industry, especially after Davao Oriental, previously tagged as the nation’s coconut capital, lost more than 3 million coconut trees during the typhoon Pablo devastation in 2012. PCA claimed that planting more coconut trees now will hopefully restore the impaled coconut industry of the province.

In fact, through a Memorandum of Undertaking, the LGU of Baganga, one of the three most-affected towns, now targets planting 11,000 coconut seedlings. PCA in return will pay the farmers P30 per seedling planted.

For this year, PCA revealed it aims to expand its current 4,000 hectares area of coverage in Davao Oriental, in a hope to contribute in reaching its regional target of at least 35,000 hectares.

Aside from planting coconuts, PCA also urged beneficiaries to pursue intercropping of coconuts with other crops such as cacao and coffee as well as the emerging oil palm crop, assuring they will also provide technical assistance to farmers.

Davao Oriental Governor Corazon N. Malanyaon, during the ceremonial turnover of checks, told the beneficiaries to become not only grateful to the assistance they have been receiving, but rather complementing the government’s interventions by doubling their efforts and putting in more passion to their work.

“You have been so lucky to receive payment in planting crops that you yourselves would be harvesting,” she said, telling beneficiaries to vouch their commitment in doing their part in improving their lives.

She further thanked the PCA for making their contribution in the helping the province recover from a major disaster. (PIO Karen Lou Deloso)