Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. underscored the urgency of the call of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for the amendment of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act, saying it is vital for the revitalization of the coconut sector—the country’s top agricultural export earner.
“We must revise the law to focus the trust fund’s resources on the most critical needs—particularly replanting,” said Tiu Laurel. “Many of our coconut trees are senile. If we don’t replace them immediately, we risk losing the industry’s future.”
Coconut trees over 50 years old produce less than half the potential yield of younger trees, which stands at around 80-100 nuts a year. While the fruit-bearing capacity of older trees may be temporarily boosted with salt fertilization, replanting is the only long-term solution to sustain the viability of the coconut sector.
Around 3 million farmers working across 3.6 million hectares, the Philippines is the world’s second-largest coconut producer and exporter, after Indonesia. The sector, however, is underperforming: only 134 processing plants are operating—many at just 50 percent capacity—and 60 oil mills remain well below their combined capacity of 3.7 million metric tons due to lower farm yields.
“These reforms are about more than productivity—they’re about securing the livelihoods of millions of Filipino coconut farmers,” Tiu Laurel said.
Each year, the industry exports an average of USD2 billion worth of crude and refined coconut oil, desiccated coconut, copra meal, and coconut water from about 14 to 15 billion nuts.
If the Philippines could increase farm yield, it could ride the crest of the wave of increasing demand for coconut oil, particularly in Europe. Although the yearly targets are expected to be met, the current pace of planting still needs to be accelerated to assure the industry’s sustainability.
In 2024, despite El Niño, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) managed to plant 8.6 million seedlings exceeding the 8.5 target—quadruple the previous two-year average. Still, this falls short of President Marcos’s vision to plant 100 million coconut trees by 2028.
For 2025, the government has allocated P1 billion for planting/replanting and P1.8 billion for fertilization. But to truly scale the effort, the P80-billion trust fund must be refocused toward high-impact programs that lift productivity and farmer incomes. The proposed amendment will allow greater flexibility to ensure a more responsive and adaptive approach to the evolving needs of coconut farmers and the industry.
Aside from massive and sustained replanting, said Secretary Tiu Laurel, the amendment to the trust fund also allow the PCA to focus on providing drip irrigation, water impounding, fertilization and farmers welfare.
“We’ve consulted with agencies, farmer groups, and stakeholders to ensure the amendments to the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act reflect the sector’s growing needs,” said PCA Administrator Dexter Buted.
