Coconut planting in Cagayan Valley to be Launched in Lallo, Cagayan
The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) will launch the first ever massive coconut planting in Regions 1, 2 and 3 in Lallo, Cagayan at the Cagayan State University on September 28, 2009 with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as guest speaker. This massive coconut planting project was initiated by PCA Director Luis L. Evangelista and endorsed by Administrator Oscar Garin of the PCA. The Cagayan State University Lallo Campus established a nursery with 200,000 coconut seeds.
The aim of the project is to address the decline in coconut production in the Philippines. This trend is inimical to the expanding domestic coconut market, especially in view of the demand created by the Biofuels Act of 2006. PCA Director Evangelista said that the National Coconut Productivity Program (NCPC) will boost coconut production by as much as 3.08 million metric tons in 2010.
According to the release from the Philippine Information Agency, “the components of the NCPC are the Participatory Coconut Planting Project (PCPP), Salt Fertilization Project (SFP), and the Plowable Intercropping Project (PIP).”