TACLOBAN CITY – The provincial government of Northern Samar, in partnership with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), has planted 66,000 coconut seedlings across the province as part of its efforts to develop and strengthen the local coconut industry.
Engr. Reynato Dubongco, PCA provincial manager, the planting initiative supports Governor Edwin Ongchuan’s program to boost coconut production in Northern Samar.
“From June until now, we have already planted 66,000 coconut seedlings in the province.
These dwarf coconut varieties will help increase our coconut production in support of Gov.Ongchuan’s development program for the coconut industry in Northern Samar,” he said.
The province received a total allocation of 66,781 seedlings from the PCA, with some of these planted in Sitio Libas, Brgy Poblacion 8, Pambujan town.
This area will serve as a seed garden for the dwarf coconut variety, which is part of the PCA’s coconut hybridization program.
Dubongco noted that the existing tall coconut variety in the province produces only 33 nuts per year, but the newly planted dwarf variety is expected to more than double that yield.
These 66,000 seedlings are part of the 860,000 coconut seedlings allocated to Eastern Visayas, which in turn is part of the PCA’s target of planting 2 million seedlings nationwide.
According to 2022 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, Northern Samar produced 261,000 metric tons of coconut.
PCA data also shows that Northern Samar ranks second in Eastern Visayas in terms of the number of coconut trees, with 15,389,364 trees, following Leyte, which has 16,688,777.
Northern Samar is also second to Leyte in terms of coconut-planted area, with 81,731 hectares, and second in total nut production, with 261,247 metric tons, trailing only Samar, which produced 298,318 metric tons.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
