RA 11524 – Most Complete & Thereby Most Intelligent Law For PH Agriculture!

I forgot for a while, in the “Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act” (RA 11524) that PDutz signed on 26 February 2021, the lawmakers were using their coconuts and, subsequently, so have been the would-be law enforcers led by the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA)!

Earlier, Eireene Jairee Gomez says, “P75B To Reboot Coco Trust Fund[1]” (26 March 2021, Manilatimes.Net):

On March 15, two weeks after the signing of RA 11525, the PCA Board met to lay out plans for a coherent and coordinated approach in implementing programs for the coconut industry.

The PCA heads are Secretary of Agriculture William Dar as Chair of the PCA Board and PCA Administrator Benjamin Madrigal Jr.

I particularly note this part of the news by Ms Eireene, that the programs under RA 11524 will focus on the following:

(1)     credit programs

(2)     crop insurance

(3)     empowerment of cooperatives

(4)     hybridization

(5)     infrastructure development

(6)     intercropping and animal integration

(7)     research

(8)     scholarships

(9)     shared facilities

(10)  training of farmers

10, magic number, wonderful! My listing; I alphabetize them and out comes “credit programs” as #1! Really, farmers need all the credit programs we can extend to them.

Against the depredation of climate change every year, farmers need crop insurance.

The one I love the most is “empowerment of cooperatives.” As a long-time member of the Nagkaisa Multipurpose Cooperative of my hometown Asingan, Pangasinan, and twice a board member, I know what a cooperative can do for any individual or group of farmers – from seed to spoon. And yes, the coop can take good care of shared equipment & facilities necessary to help produce and reproduce the nuts, provide storage when necessary, and multiply products for different markets. (The first thing a coop can do for a farmer is: escape usury.)

Yes, training of farmers – which will include intercropping and animal integration, the better to multiply the sources of income, as well as help mitigate the negative effects of harsh climates, ie, too warm or too wet.

The Philippines is the world’s second biggest producer of coconut, with a total of 3.5 million hectares planted and annual production of 15 million metric tons.

The news today, 06 June 2021, is that of the completion of the Coconut Farmers’ and Industry Roadmap (Coco-FIRM). All is well that begins well!

Among others, the PCA had sought the assistance of a team of experts from UP Los Baños in early 2020 to craft such a roadmap.

Thus, the PCA is the first of the bureaus and agencies attached to the Department of Agriculture (DA) to have completed a commodity industry roadmap, as required by RA 11524, a copy of which was submitted to Mr Dar during the 48^th PCA anniversary on Wednesday, 30 June 2021. RA 11524, says Mr Dar, “we consider a game-changer that will help transform the lives of 2.5 million coconut farmers and their families by (reversing) low productivity into higher gains.”

I can now see the Philippine coconut being transformed into “The Tree of Better Lives!”@517

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[1]https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/03/26/news/national/p75b-to-reboot-coco-trust-fund/855581/?fbclid=IwAR3SEQml7PXt-_pBwVVMnbY_25zbhb_33hgOzFfFCmSCVDvz4UOTi6dgyPg