A TALE OF TWO PALMS:

Strategies To Overcome Rural Poverty Pablito P. Pamplona, Ph.D. SUMMARY

The coconut and oil palm trees belong to one plant family, Palmae. The main product of both crops is vegetable oil with increasing huge national and global demand. Each is major crop of two neighboring ASEAN, the Philippines and Malaysia. The Philippines grow 3.56 million ha of coconut trees approximately 30% of its cultivated croplands whereas Malaysia grows 5.5 million ha of oil palm trees occupying 66% of its agricultural land. It is not fair to associate the coconut trees to poor farmers and the oil palm to rich farmers. Results of this study suggest that while the potential yield and productivity level of the coconut tree is lower than the productivity of the oil palm tree, it is still at the level high enough to provide smallholders with 2.5 ha, an income above the poverty threshold level. What is challenging is to bring the actual yield closer to the potential yield of the coconut trees similar to what has been done with oil palm. Meanwhile government programs appears to influence productivity and income of the two palms low productivity and income of coconut farmers in the Philippines and the high productivity and income of the oil palm farmers in Malaysia. Considering the close relationship of the two palms, programs which improved the farm productivity of the oil palm trees are useful in improving the productivity of the coconut trees. Further observation indicates that rural poverty which is fast disappearing in neighboring Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand yet remain at high level in the Philippines for decades is best overcome by government programs which shall have direct effect on increasing farm productivity and farmers income. Such is the recommendation of the World Bank (2010). President Aquinos request for suggestions of strategies to overcome poverty may end up by using the proven effective strategies used by our ASEAN neighbors.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Two developments made me curious about the mystery of the two palms: one palm makes poor farmers; the other, rich farmers. I found out later that this assumption is not correct. First, after my retirement as Professor/Scientist at the University of Southern Mindanao seven years ago, I made frequent trips to neighboring countries Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia attending national and international scientific conferences and visiting research centers and model farms in pursuit of my passion for knowledge and innovations in oil palm and rubber industries. I was amazed at how modernized agriculture in oil palm had increased farm productivity, improved the economic lives of farmers and created prosperous rural communities. Malaysian smallholders with an average land area of 2.5 ha are getting income high enough that enables a typical farmer to buy enough nutritious food for the family, construct concrete houses, buy a car or pick-up and have fund for the college education of his children.

Second, supertyphoon Pablo passed through Mindanao uprooting six million coconut trees in three towns of Davao Oriental, a premier and pioneering province in coconut production in the country. Consultancy from USAID-GEM brought me to this province with a mission1/. Prepare as a leader of a consultancy group the blue-print for crop diversification in the three heavily damaged towns to address the short and long-term needs of the typhoon victims and with the ultimate goal of overcoming poverty. The mission required that I review the documents on coconut industry, interview officials working with coconut farmers and farmers themselves. I visited coco farms both damaged and undamaged by typhoon Pablo. In my visit, I observed that more than 50% of coconut trees were tall trees of 40 years old and above; many were planted three generations ago and practically senile. It was a heartbreaking experience seeing how these tall coconut trees disenfranchised the farmers the practice of modern agriculture. Farmers were observed to have become merely nut gatherers and did nothing with the semblance of agriculture. Farmers were telling us that they are not cultivating, fertilizing and weeding; they just make trails to facilitate nut gathering. Consequently, these coconut trees provide the nut gatherers with an average farm size of 2.5 ha a low income of less than P70,000/year unable to meet the basic needs of the family particularly rice. Before Pablo came, 85% of the farmers in the three Davao Oriental towns, Baganga, Boston and Cateel, were coconut farmers; poverty incidence was at 40%. This phenomenon is duplicated in many coco growing regions in Mindanao I visited. My surveys gave me a better understanding of the meaning of the comparative farm productivity report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB, 2009) which placed the Philippines at the bottom of farm productivity or income/ha per year of US$ 340, Indonesia US$650, Vietnam US$1,062 and Thailand US$1,760. FELDA in Malaysia which is responsible for the welfare of the smallholders reported in 2010 the farm productivity of small oil palm landholders of oil palm and rubber farmers at US$ 2,680 or P117,920/ha per year. The question is what brought such a wide disparity of farm productivity and income among farmers in two palms coconut trees in the Philippine and oil palm trees in Malaysia? With my background in agricultural sciences I postulated that the differences are brought about by either one or all of the three factors the agro-climatic environment where the crops are grown, genetic make-up of these palms, and the production management. II. ISOLATION OF THE CAUSAL FACTORS 1. Similar agro-climatic endowment Agro-climatic resources are ruled out as a source of productivity differences; both the Philippines and Malaysia have similar agro-climatic environment highly favorable for the cultivation of both palms. A more convincing evidence is when I noted oil palm trees in
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1/ This paper is a personal initiative to contribute to the countrys goal of overcoming poverty; many of the information were obtained during the consultancy period.

Mindanao which was provided with good agricultural practices yielded high or higher than those in Malaysia. 2. Slightly higher potential productivity of oil palm trees over coco trees Concerning the genetic make-up of the plants, I found out the wild forms of both palms have yield potential of more or less a ton/ha per year of vegetable oil oil palm producing slightly higher over the coconut trees. Wild oil palm trees are still abundant in African countries where the natives gather fruits for vegetable oil using crude techniques of extraction. Many coconut trees in the wild existing along the coastal areas of many small islands in the Pacific are being utilized by many indigenous people for oil and other purposes. Human interventions through selection, breeding, hybridization and cultivation have modified the productivity of both palm trees in the wild for higher yields; more modifications were done with oil palm than with coconut. Hybridization of oil palm was inspired largely by the hybridization success of grain crops like rice, corn and wheat which increase yields by four to ten times. Hybridization of oil palm started in the 1960s and continues up to this day producing hybrids of increasing higher potential yields now at over 5.0 tons of oil/ha per year. Hybridization of coconut has been reported in India as early as the 1930s. The creativity of the Filipino Scientists in the 1980s developed coconut hybrids with high yield potentials of over 4.0 tons/ha of oil or 8.0 tons of copra/ha per year. This is not far below the potential yield of oil palm of 5.0 tons of oil/ha per year. Harvest of first fruits of coconut hybrid plants comes in 42 months , not far from oil palm of 28 months. A typical 10 years old oil palm hybrid adequately fertilized has a compact semivertical 60 to 70 leaves, making the plant more efficient in sunlight utilization for photosynthesis or food production than the traditional type. A hybrid coconut tree has 30 to 35 longer semi-horizontal leaves and is less efficient in sunlight utilization than the palm trees. Oil palm has more extensive root system than coconut; makes the oil palm more efficient in absorbing nutrients in the soil, one of the raw materials for the manufacture of oil through photosynthesis. 3. Narrowing the actual and potential yield Hybridization raises the productivity potential of crops; adequate nutrition is essential to bring the actual yield closer to the potential yield. Examples include the adequate nutrition through fertilization of hybrid rice which enabled China to produce high yield for surplus rice when shortage was predicted. Hybrid corn is helping transform the Philippines to surplus production due to the higher yield of the hybrids over synthetic corn varieties. The objective of the Philippines for self-sufficiency in rice is increasingly becoming attainable by the increasing areas devoted to hybrid rice production. In both hybrid rice or corn, the expenses for fertilizer is higher, the income of the farmers are also higher, four times more than in synthetic varieties.
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Hybrids plants of rice, corn, wheat, oil palm, and coconut trees are largely modernized plant factories four or more times potential outputs needing proportionately higher inputs. The inputs include CO2 and sunlight in the atmosphere for free; water and nutrients in the soil. Water is usually free; nutrients like N, P, K, Ca, Fu, etc are of limited quantities in the soil and therefore should be made adequate by fertilization. Nutrient utilization and efficiency of old and tall palm trees as in old factories is lower than the young palm trees. With this brief review of agricultural principles, I analyzed why the oil palm of Malaysia with potential yield of over 5.0 tons/ha per year gave a national average of almost 4.0 tons/ha per year or 80% of the yield potential; whereas the coconut trees in the Philippines with potential yield of over 4.0 tons/ha per year, have a national average yield of less than 1,000 kg of vegetable oil less than 20% of the potential yield (Fig. 1). Raising the coco yield to 2.5 tons/ha of oil or 5.0 tons of copra/ha per year can bring the productivity and farmers income of smallholders above the poverty threshold level. As I analyzed the practices and I found some variations in government programs..

6 Oil yield tons/ha per year

Potential yield = 5.0 t

5 4 3 2

YIELD GAP (1 t) Actual yield = 4.0 t (Malaysians national ave)

Potential yield = 4.0 t

YIELD GAP (3 t) Actual yield = <1.0 t

1 0
OIL PALM COCONUT PALM

(Phils national ave)

Fig. 1. Comparison of the potential and actual yields of the two palms.

III.

SOME VARIABLES IN GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS a. Cutting and replanting of trees

When the yield of oil palm trees start to decline at 25 years old, the Malaysian government through FELDA encourages and capacitates the farmers to cut the trees and provide them with superior hybrid seedlings for replanting - higher yields than the previous planting. In three years after replanting the oil palm trees becomes productive; farm productivity is increase the oil palm farmers become richer. Tall and old palm trees, both oil palm and coconut trees, became less productive, less responsive to fertilization and the fruits are more difficult and expensive to harvest. Oil palm hybrids are still productive of up to over 50 years but at a decreasing yield starting at 25 years.
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Government supported replanting of coconut trees at declining productivity with superior yielding varieties/hybrids is almost unknown to Filipinos. Farmers are encouraged by the government to collect on-farm coco seedlings for planting/replanting; government provides monetary incentive for planted seedlings regardless of the genetic potential yield. Coconut trees are of two types the tall and the dwarf. Observation shows that the dwarf type becomes productive in four years or less and with declining yield before reaching 30 years old. The tall type become productive in seven to ten years; reach it peak yield in 12 years; then the yield decline between 30 to 40 years, although the trees can still bear fruits of up to 80 years. These means plants of both types are at declining productivity at 40 years old. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicated that coconut trees are at declining yield before reaching 30 years. This probably applies to the dwarf but not to the tall type of coconut. Cutting of coconut trees even those of 40 years old and above and at apparent declining yields is regulated by two Philippine laws Coconut Preservation Act of 1995 and RA 8048. The apparent purpose is to slow down the declining total volume of copra being exported by the country. Under these laws cutting is allowed only when the trees are economically unproductive. . .diseased or 60 years old and above and when a farmer replant cut trees with the same number of coconut seedlings. A cutting fee of P100.00 is also required. Farmers generally dont cut and replant as they cant afford the expenses for cutting, replanting and the cutting fee of P100.00/tree. In not replacing the tall trees of decreasing yield the farmers income decreases he become poorer and poorer. b. Technology utilization Farming for high oil palm yield and productivity in Malaysia is anchored largely on the use of two technologies: Planting of high yielding F1 hybrids and adequate nutrition for high and long-term sustainable yield. A typical oil palm farm of a small landholder in Malaysia is fertilized at the rate of 16 bags of fertilizer/ha per year. He applies half of that amount only or eight bags/ha per year when the empty fruit bunches is reintroduced to the farm. Other components of modern agriculture like weeding, pest control, etc., are also used. The technologies on hybrid and adequate nutrition were products of extensive research and simplified to ensure wide-scale utilization of even the unschooled farmers. Poor farmers are empowered by the Malaysian government to use the technologies through massive technology dissemination, access to credit for planting materials and fertilizer, and ensure market. Many Filipino adopting both technologies easily produce high oil palm yield and income and emerging as among the richest farmers in Mindanao. The utilization of coconut hybrids and adequate nutrition technologies are largely foreign to Filipino coconut farmers. The government abandoned the commercialization of coconut hybrids developed in the 1980s by Filipino scientists. The reason according to the coconut technicians the hybrid requires fertilizer; the farmers are too poor to buy fertilizer and the government has apparently no plan to capacitate the farmers to fertilize. In place the government encourages the farmers to collect and plant ordinary varieties which according to the coconut technicians need no or small amount of fertilizer.
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A landmark discovery by Filipino scientists shows that the so called ordinary coconut varieties which require little or no fertilizer when fertilized gives higher yields increase copra productivity of from 10 to 25 kg/tree per year. The amount of multinutrient fertilizer (MNF) of six kg/tree is applied over a span of four years. In the process the palm productivity and net income is increase to 2.5 times over the ordinary varieties. Not much is done to disseminate the need for adequate nutrition and to capacitate the farmers to use fertilizer. The farmers are not aware; they unknowingly rob future generations of coconut farmers by not replacing the nutrients which the traditional coconut varieties increasingly mined in the soil. Future coconut yields decreases brought about by the increasing depletion of the nutrients in the soil consequently lowering farm income. Incoming generations of coconut farmers are increasingly getting lower yield due to increasing nutrient depletion of the soil where the coconut trees grow. c. Philippine coco hybrids produce high yield in Malaysia A surprising findings I made in the process of this study is that the most productive and profitable coconut farm which uses the Philippine developed coconut hybrids is found not in the Philippines but in a large United Plantation Berhad (UPB) in Perak, Malaysia. UPB has 40,000 ha palm plantations, 35,000 ha for oil palm and 5,000 ha for coconut. In this plantation, coconut hybrid trees which are provided with adequate nutrition yield 8.0 tons of copra/ha per year. This is far above the Philippine average copra yield of 1,203 kg/ha per year. UPB is contracted by the Malaysian government to produce annually 50,000 seed nuts of the Philippine coco hybrids which is being piloted by Malaysia to smallholders producing coconut as component of native Malaysian delicacies. Out of curiosity after my observation at UPB, I fertilized my coco hybrid trees in Cotabato: I found the trees very responsive to fertilization through increased in the number of nuts produced (Fig. 2). Im convinced that using the technologies of planting of coconut hybrids coupled with adequate nutrition is the key to narrow the gap between the potential and actual yield of the coconut in this country. Plants like livestocks require adequate and balance nutrition for higher yield and productivi ty; in poultrys broiler productio n 80% or more of the gross 14 nuts 18 nuts income 35 nuts 25 nuts 38 nuts goes to (B) TPFN, Cotabato, Philippines (A) UPB, Perak, Malaysia balance feed Fig. 2. Fruit bunches of PCA F1 coconut hybrid in two countries: (A) Malaysian (UPB, Perak) provided ration. In with adequate nutrition since birth produces 8 tons/ha per year of copra; (B) Philippines (TPFN, Kabacan, oil palm Cotabato) applied with different rates of fertilizer (NPK, Ca, Mg + T.E.) at the rate of 3, 5 and 7 kg/ha per trees only year, respectively for 1.5 years.
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25% or less goes to fertilizers for adequate nutrition and another 10% for other expenses, a total of 35% of the gross income. In coconut trees, lower fertilization rate than in oil palm maybe needed. d. Technology dissemination One of the reasons for the high technology utilization in oil palm is that Malaysian oil palm farmers are taught by well-trained technicians who are schooled in the science of good farming practices. Majority are also oil palm farmers. These technicians put up onfarm demos on good farming practices at the village level. On-farm production demos showing the benefits of using coconut technologies in the Philippines appears inadequate. Moreover, I met coconut technicians who are out-of-touch in teaching the farmers basic agriculture like adequate nutrition for high and sustainable yield. Many farmers identified a technician as more of an enforcer of the coconut cutting ban rather than an agent for high and sustainable coconut yield. Many coconut farmers still believe on the unscientific lessons taught by their grandparents that fertilization is not good for the palms. The belief is that coconut trees will tampo and bear no fruits when fertilizer is applied then stopped. My finding shows that limited fertilizers distributed by technicians are applied in the rice paddy farms or in black market as technicians are unable to convince the farmers the benefits of fertilization. This leaves the coconut trees as the most, if not one of the most malnourished crops in the country. A malnourished plant, as in a malnourished elderly man is unable to work long hours to earn enough for the food needs of his children, the coconut tree is unable to produce enough copra to support the basic needs of the coconut farmer and his family. e. Support to R&D The driver of the development of any commodity crops like oil palm and coconut is R&D. For this reasons the Malaysians modernized research facilities to support the work of hundreds of oil palm scientists majority with Ph.D. degrees in the best biological schools of Europe, Australia and USA. They are encouraged to update regularly in international scientific and innovative conferences. Consequently, there is a rich flow of innovative technologies rapidly modernizing palm oil production, processing, developing of new products and utilization. Oil palm farming practices were simplified making the oil palm among the easiest to farm crop in the tropics even for the unschooled farmers. This may provide a model to develop the R&D of the coco industry. There is a need for continuous research to improve the yield potential of the coconut using the leading-edge technologies of the 21st century such as biotechnology. f. Implementation of the mandate The Malaysian government created the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) through Parliamentary Act No. 582 with the mandate to develop the Malaysian Palm Oil Industry. MPOB is headed by a Director-General selected similar to how an Executive Director of PHILRICE is selected in this country. What is unique with the MPOB is the faithful adherence of the leadership, past and present, to implement the full provisions of the
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mandate of becoming a premier model laureate producing R&D institution for a highly diversified, globally competitive and sustainable oil palm industry. PD 232 as modified by three other PDs created the Philippine Coconut Authority which mandates the development not only of the Philippine Coconut Industry but also the Philippine Palm Oil Industry. PCA is headed by an Administrator. The current Administrator and his key officials are being commended and congratulated by the members of the Philippine Palmoil Development Council, Inc. (PPDCI) for the bold steps to implement the development of the Philippine Palm Oil Industry in spite of a strong unwanted opposition. The omission of the implementation of the oil palm component in the past is now costing the Filipinos an importation of P27.5 billion of palm oil annually for food from Malaysia which is increasing at the rate of 8%/year. The Administrator has allocated in 2014, P50 million for oil palm development and funded the preparation of the Philippine Palm Oil Roadmap. He also budgeted in 2014 the amount of P20 million for the resumption of the production of coconut hybrid seed-nuts. While these allocations are small, they are indicative of the good and visionary intention. Hybrid coconut seed nut production was previously abandoned on what others see the problem of high cost of seed nut production and fertilization. Now the Administrator sees the great opportunity that of putting back to modernize agriculture the disenfranchised wide lands with tall low productivity coconut trees by replanting with hybrid seedlings for high farm productivity to overcome poverty. A big budget is needed for this purpose. Overcoming poverty is not cheap it is costing the Philippine government billion of pesos annually in the form of CCT under the four Ps. Production of hybrid coconut seedlings is expensive; the production of hybrid oil palm seedlings is three times more expensive. Just similar to the cost of seeds of hybrid rice or corn three or more times more expensive than the cost of seeds of the ordinary synthetic varieties. Yet Malaysia was able to produce hybrid oil palm seedlings enough not only for 3.5 million ha but for over 5.5 million ha. Moreover, fertilizer is expensive but is needed for adequate nutrition for high sustainable coconut yields. The use of hybrids coupled with adequate nutrition can narrow the actual and potential yield of coconut trees maybe 2.5 to 3.0 tons of oil/ha per year. IV. WIDENING INCOME GAP: Coco and Oil Palm Farmers

As discussed above, there are strong indications that a variation in government programs between the two palms influences the widening disparity in farm productivity and farmers income. Today an average coconut farm of 2.5 ha in the Philippines provides a net income of less than P70,000/year due to low yield. The same size of Malaysian oil palm farm provide a farmer an income of more than P380,000/year. By the year 2020 the average income of a coco farm in the Philippines is projected to decrease further (assuming the current slow rate of replanting) maybe among the lowest farm income in the neighboring ASEAN. The same farm size of Malaysian oil palm shall provide an income of US$ 15,000* or P670,000/year, among the highest farm income in the neighboring ASEAN.
___________________ * Projected income of oil palm and rubber farmers under the Malaysian Economic Transformation Roadmap for high income society in 2020.

The Malaysian program for oil palm is being adopted and successfully bringing significant reduction of poverty in Thailand and Indonesia. The same program is applicable to coconut trees in the Philippines. It is not too late for the Philippines to narrow the gap time should not be wasted. V. Neglect of the Coconut Trees: Extended to Other Upland Crops

The neglect to truly develop the coconut industry during past decades in spite of AFMA extends to practically all upland crops like rubber another crop which make the Malaysian farmers rich but not the Filipino farmers. Nobody cares to implement RA 10089, a law with potential to develop the Philippine Rubber Industry which could transform thousands of upland poor from poverty to prosperity. Rubber technologies used in the Philippines are largely outdated; Malaysia uses the high yielding hybrid clones, the Philippines the discarded old low yielding clones. Coconut, rubber and other upland crops constitute more than of the Philippine agricultural lands with high incidence of poverty, unchanged percentage since 2009. The high economic growth rate of the country since 2010 only widened the income gap between those on the industry and service sectors on one hand and the poor upland farmers.
VI. RECOMMENDATION

Previous and current strategies to overcome poverty in the Philippines appear to be not effective. According to the World Bank 2010-2012, it is what is being done to increase farm productivity and increase farmers income that matters most in reducing poverty. Two years is still available for Pnoy to overcome the countrys agricultural malady the time should not be wasted. Neighboring countries provide good models for upland crops development that of increasing land productivity, increase farmers income to overcome poverty. The same can be done in the Philippines starting with uplands grown to coconut, oil palm, rubber and other crops.

The author, Dr. Pablito P. Pamplona, once a DA Outstanding Agricultural Scientist Awardee in 1997, now as shown in this picture a humble coconut, oil palm and rubber farmer uses technologies generated largely through his frequent visit and study of the agriculture of neighboring ASEAN. He wrote this article to give hope to the coconut and other upland farmers you can still be economically where our neighboring ASEAN farmers are today. Lets keep on imitating, innovating and pray that our leaders be given wisdom to see the narrow straight path to overcome poverty. He may be contacted through pabpamplona@yahoo.com or +639189081227 for comments.