TACLOBAN CITY – Eastern Visayas marked the 38th National Coconut Week and Coconut Month with a series of activities held at the People’s Center in this city.
The event was organized by the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) in collaboration with the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Tingog party-list.
The celebration, themed ‘Coconut Creations: A Coconut Taste and Crafts Showcase in Region VIII’, featured a variety of activities.
Highlights of the Coconut Month celebration included an interactive discussion, the coconut couture challenge and fashion show, the coconut culinary showcase, and contests for the best bahal and best bahalina.
Visitors also enjoyed exhibits showcasing various coconut-based products and foods made with coconut, available for purchase.
PCA-8 Regional Manager Joel Pilapil expressed hope that the event would inspire coconut farmers to explore the potential of producing more than just copra from the “tree of life.”
“Copra prices are unstable, making it difficult for coconut farmers to earn a sustainable living,” Pilapil said. “Coconut-based products such as tuba/bahalina, coco vinegar, virgin coconut oil, and coco sugar offer better income opportunities for farmers,” he added.
These products were among those featured in the exhibits, which included 22 exhibitors supported by DTI-8.
“These are marketable products with better prices in the market,” Pilapil added.
To expand the market for coconut-based products, DOT is assisting in promoting the industry to both local and international visitors.
DOT-8 Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes shared that during visits by expedition cruise ships to the region, coconut is one of the key products they showcase to foreign visitors.
For example, during a visit to Capul Island, guests were shown how to plant, harvest, and use the coconut in various dishes, she said.
“Let us look at the coconut with fresh eyes, seeing it not just as a product but as a source of inspiration—a testament to what we can achieve when we unite our efforts across different sectors,” Tiopes said.
The region’s coconut industry continues to recover from the devastation of Super Typhoon ‘’Yolanda in 2013, which affected central Eastern Visayas, and Typhoon ‘Odette’ in 2021, which impacted the entire province of Southern Leyte and the southern part of Leyte province.
Pilapil noted that the region currently harvests over 1.7 billion coconuts annually, still lower than the more than 2 billion coconuts harvested before the onslaught of Yolanda.
Eastern Visayas now ranks 5th among coconut-producing regions in the country, a slight drop from its previous second-place ranking prior to Yolanda.
An estimated 65,601,699 coconut trees are planted in the region, with most located in Leyte province, covering an area of 91,906 hectares.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
