Authors:

Monica B. Castillo and Princess Alma B. Ani¹

1: Socio-Economics Research Division (SERD), Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and

Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD), Department of Science and

Technology (DOST), Los Banos

Coconut, also known as the “tree of life”, is one of the most important crops in the Philippines. It is considered a major export, contributing 3.6% of the country’s gross value-added (GVA) in agriculture, next to banana, corn and rice. Indeed, the country remains to be a top producer and exporter of coconut worldwide (PSA 2019, Lapina and Andal 2017).

Generally, the coconut production had been stagnant from 2000 to 2017. There had been no significant increase in the production’s growth rate. The production has started to slow down in 2010 and 2013 mainly due to the infestation of the coconut scale insects and the occurrence of major typhoons, which destroyed huge number of coconut trees. Evidently, the yield has declined significantly since 2010.  On the other hand, the area planted had generally increased from 2000 to 2017, which also caused the production growth in the recent years. The area planted accounted for almost 26% of the total agricultural land in 2015 that covers 68 provinces in the Philippines (PSA 2019, PCA 2019, Lapina and Andal 2017).

In terms of trade, the country continues to export huge amount of coconut products, about 70% of the country’s total coconut production. Among the coconut products exported include coconut oil (CNO), desiccated coconut (DCN), copra meal, and oleo chemicals (Ani and Aquino 2016). In 2017, the total export amounted to US $ 1, 519,639 (in thousands) with Netherlands and US as the top importing countries (Trademap 2019).