By Perla Lena
TACLOBAN CITY, (PNA) — The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) here is intensifying its advocacy for coconut farmers to embark on an inter-cropping, according to regional manager Edilberto Nierva.
Nierva said that the coconut inter-cropping project is one of the initiatives of their office to help farmers in the industry.
He said that farmers have been informed on possible livelihood project they can engage in and not just rely on their income sourced from the coconut.
“They have yet to utilize the spaces in between coconut trees that could give them additional source of income,” he stated.
This year farmers have been advised to plant coffee and banana.
However, next year they will go massive in promoting cacao because “many areas in the region prefer cacao,” he said.
Eastern Visayas is one of the country’s top coconut producers.
Based on the quarterly coconut survey, the region has 649,000 hectares planted with coconut representing some 31 percent of the total agricultural area in the region.
The region has around 72 million bearing and non-bearing coconut trees, he added.