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Kgd. Bonita |
Caramoan Municipal Kagawad Eduardo Bonita this week reiterated his proposal that coconut nurseries be put up in all 49 barangays of the town in order to sustain the coconut industry which is the main source of income of the people in the area.
Bonita, the lone independent candidate in the town who won last elections, pointed out that the number of fruit-bearing coconut trees in the municipality has drastically dwindled due to typhoons and the incidence of cadang-cadang in some areas. Moreover, indiscriminate cutting of coconut trees for lumber has also taken its toll on the number of coconut trees, some residents being after immediate bigger income without considering the long-term effect on the coconut industry.
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Desolate typhoon-ravaged coconut trees in the Caramoan Peninsula. |
Bonita has been urging for establishment of coconut nurseries since three years ago but he said even the Philippines Coconut Authority (PCA) cannot allocate a suffi cient number of coconut seedlings enough for the needs of a single municipality.
Kgd. Bonita proposed that the municipal government directly allocate its own fund for the establishment of such nurseries with counterpart from barangay funds. Caramoan used to be the No. 1 coconut-producing town of the Philippines 30 to 40 years ago. But now there are once lush coconut plantations like Haponan Island which are practically without a single coconut tree.
A well-known businessman conversant with coconut production, Bonita said that Caramoan coconut industry is on a rapid decline and unless replanting or rehabilitation is immediately done it will soon cease to be the main source of income of the people.
