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PCA Readies Oil-Palm Industry Road Map
calendar24-12-2013 | linkBusiness Mirror | Share This Post:

24/12/2013 (Business Mirror) - The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) is hoping to build and develop a strong industry of oil palm and to establish a viable product via profitable venture, a statement by the PCA said on Monday.

“For this, [the] PCA drafted the first oil-palm industry road map for 2014-2023 and recently spearheaded a summit held in Mandaue, Cebu, in response to the critical need to develop the oil-palm industry,” the statement said.

“We believe that palm oil can emerge as another significant agricultural crop if we work hand-in-hand in nurturing and development of the oil-palm industry,” PCA Administrator Euclides G. Forbes was quoted in the statement as saying. The PCA said the road map “aims to develop the oil-palm industry through gainful production, processing and marketing of oil-palm products and by-products.”

The agency added that by achieving this, it expects the local palm-oil industry as “a dynamic, innovative and self-sufficient industry that complements the coconut industry by planting at least 300,000 hectares and add a milling capacity of about 500 tons per hour.” The agency’s statement on December 23 said PCA also hopes to establish strong partnerships with the private industry players as they show a growing interest in developing the oil-palm industry.

“There should be a shared social responsibility in oil-palm farming among big plantations,” Pablito P. Pamplona, secretary of the Philippine Palm Oil Development Council Inc., was quoted in the same statement as saying.

The country has already 56,641.71 hectares of land planted with bearing and non-bearing oil palms. Oil-palm experts estimated a total of about 1 million hectares of land suitable for oil-palm plantation expansion.

PCA Deputy Administrator for Research, Development and Extension Branch (RDEB) Carlos B. Carpio was quoted in the statement as saying that no trees will be cut just to give favor in planting oil-palm trees.

“Those lands which are considered for oil-palm plantation expansion are idle and unproductive lands,” he added.

“PCA and PPCDI are insisting that no new forest would be felled or burned down unlike the much-criticized practice in Malaysia and Indonesia in expanding the oil-palm plantation wherein forest, peat lands and wildlife habitat were destroyed.”

Oil-palm industry continues to generate jobs for the farmers just like the coconut industry.

The PCA said it targets a total of about 300,000 farmers to have benefited from the industry development by the end of 2023. “The surging demand for palm oil in the international and domestic markets is driven by the discovery of its many uses and an increasing global population.”

Aside from Pamplona’s group, other representatives who attended the summit came from the following: Department of Trade and Industry; Department of Agrarian Reform; University of Mindanao; local government units; and, private stakeholders.