by Rene V. Carbayas
ISABELA CITY, Basilan – Basilan held the first Coco Summit rrecently to address the coconut scale insect infestation that threatens the local coconut industry.
Government agencies, non-government organizations, and the local government units converged at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Hall at the Capitol building of the Provincial Government of Basilan to gain public support and generate strategies to control the spread of cocolisap.
Officials from the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA)-Central Office in Manila, the regional office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and region 9 were present to respond to the issues and concerns confronting PCA’s intervention in curbing the cocolisap infestation in the affected city and province.
Efren Carba of PCA-9 gave an audio-visual presentation on the status of implementation of the region’s intervention to control cocolisap in Isabela City, while Marina Wahab and Onesima Hayawan of PCA-ARMM also provided updates.
Carba said that since the infestation was first verified in October 2012, various activities and initiatives were conducted by PCA in partnership with government agencies in the control and treatment of the cocolisap.
PCA reported that as of end of July 2014, some 92,359 coconut trees were already infected in Isabela City alone. Isabela has some 954,722 coconut trees as per record of PCA-9. In the ARMM province of Basilan, data are still being collated. Of the 6.5 million coconut trees in the province, the number of infected trees is still to be determined. But, since it was sighted and verified in Batungal of Maluso town last September 2013, some 2,482 coconut trees were reportedly infected in Lamitan City as well as in Lantawan, Maluso, and Tuburan towns. PCA-ARMM said that some 1,143 were given treatment through pruning and biological control.
PCA Deputy Administrator Roel Rosales admitted that the coconut industry is now in danger. He, however, thanked the local stakeholders for the expression of support to fight the cocolisap and for recognizing the lack of personnel of PCA in the locality. Rosales said that additional personnel were already hired in Isabela City and soon for the province.
“While it is a concern, the number of infected trees is still small, which is barely one percent of the total population of coconuts in the Philippines. But it does not mean that the government will be complacent as the spread is rapid,” Rosales said.
With the infestation, Rosales believes that the coconut farmers are the ones who can fully respond to the crisis when fully equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills in handling the infestation in their farms. With this Rosales said they will strengthen the capacity of the farmers by putting up coconut farmers’ schools and FITS (Farmers’ Information and Technology Service) Center.
When asked where government failed in curbing the spread of infestation, Rosales said that one has to put things in perspective. He said that the scale insect was endemic in the Philippines and that the local specie was not destructive.
But when the spread was rapid, authorities have suspected that the specie may not be local. He said that scientists have verified that indeed the destructive scale insect foreign in origin.
After the PCA presentations, discussions and forum in the morning, almost half of the participants came back in the afternoon for the action planning. Some participants observed that some key stakeholders in the crisis were not present, like the local chief executives, who play vital roles in terms of local government unit’s responsibility in controlling the infestation.
Provincial Administrator Tahira Ismael said that the mayors were invited because the summit was intended for them. She only hoped that the mayors’ representatives who were present would update their respective mayors as to the results of the Summit.
The Summit has identified some issues and concerns in curbing the cocolisap menace. Among them was the continued spread of the scale insect in spite of PCA’s intervention, the lack of local PCA personnel, the poor knowledge of coconut farmers on the infestation, the lack of engagement with unresponsive landowners/farmers, and the lack of pertinent data.
Some interventions were also identified, such as: strict implementation of quarantine in all ports and borders of the province, deputation training, massive information drive, continue with PCA’s intensive treatment program, documentation and data gathering, and personnel augmentation by the province and agencies concerned.
Moreover, Rosales has encouraged the coconut farmers to start value-adding with their coco lands by intercropping and livestock-raising as alternative livelihood while waiting for the infected coconuts to recover for about a year.
