RA 11524 or Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund (CFITF) provides a significant contribution to strengthening the programs for the poor and marginalized coconut farmers in the country. The Coconut Farmers and Industry Council (CFIDP) is crafted to identify its components, strategies, and partner agencies.
The ATI, as a capacity builder of the Department of Agriculture, is identified as one of the Implementing Agencies for this program. It is tasked to conduct Training of Trainers (TOT) at the national and regional levels to equip various stakeholders such as the ATI-Regional Training Center (RTCs) and personnel form other CFIDP IAs at the national level, as well as the Agricultural Extension Workers (AEW) form the Local Government Units (LGUs), and farmer-leaders with the proper knowledge and harness their skills on coconut production across the value chain.
ATI-RTC 8 CFIDP Focal, Ms. Concepcio Miro, shares that ATI sought the assistance of PCA to identify the first batch of TOT participants, which included representatives from the Top 20 Coconut Producing Cities/Municipalities in the Eastern Visayas. “The Province of Southern Leyte was heavily hit by typhoon Odette in 2021 which affected one of their main crop – coconut. Hence, we invited two municipalities from the province”, she added.
Ms. Miro also emphasized the importance of training AEWs as Coconut Specialists. “With the recently concluded coconut specialists training, the graduates are expected to contribute to the development of the coconut industry in their respective areas of assignment through the extension of technical assistance particularly in the establishment of a coconut nursery, and proper establishment of integrated coconut farms, and its management.
Mr. James Cruz, farm staff at Yadads Integrated Farm, expressed how pressure initially wavered his interest prior to the training. “I'm not even an agriculture graduate. As the training goes like humans, coconut needs proper nutrient intake, proper management, and farm sanitation to produce more. Intercropping of cacao and coffee and also the integration of animals like swine, goats, chicken, and big ruminants is a must to maximize the area/land and also an additional income to farmers, and also to maximize the coconut as a whole. We don't just focus on copra as the main product, we must do value-adding like coconut processing, such as VCO. Aside from gaining knowledge about coconut, I made new friends who have the same goal which is to boost the coconut industry. Lacking knowledge about agriculture is not an obstacle since ATI training fills what I don't know.”
Consequently, Ms. Laura Jamin, AEW of LGU-Naval shares her gratitude to be part of the training. “The extensive range of topics from seed nut selection for seedling production, and nursery establishment up to postharvest handling gave me a comprehensive understanding of how to manage coconut farms. I am also impressed because I’ve learned that many by-products of coconut can be utilized for business, and the integration of animals and other crops into coconut farming to increase productivity and profitability of the land. For that, thank you ATI-RTC8 for the aid of learning. Now, I am confident enough to practice and share them with our farmers. Once again, thank you very much.”
The Coconut Specialist Training Course aims to train the participants who will serve as resource persons on topics about various steps, processes, and theories related to the coconut value-chain.
In the two-week training, participants developed farm plans, planted five (5) coconut seedlings each at the National Coconut Research Center (NCRC) demo farm, fertilized fruiting coconut farms, installed long traps for the rhinoceros beetles, and crafted re-entry plans for their localities.
A total of twenty-one (21) participants completed the Coconut Specialist Training Course on March 6-17, 2023 at ATI-RTC 8, VSU Campus, Baybay City, Leyte. (With written reports by CBMiro)
