Tree of Life: Under Threat of Extinction

By Senator Ed Angara

The coconut industry is a pillar of Philippine agriculture. It is the oldest and most strategic industry in the country, comprising 1.14% of our Gross Domestic Product, or as much as US$ 760 million.

Our country leads the world in the coconut industry, dominating more than half of the global market. Coconut itself is the top agricultural export of the Philippines, reaping an annual revenue of US$ 631.5 million from exports.

But equally important is that the industry is a source of livelihood for millions of Filipinos. The industry employs 23 million Filipinos, 3.4 million of which are farmers. The tree is planted in 3.2 million hectares of land all over the country, in 68 out of the total 79 provinces1. This comprises a third of our total agricultural land area2, and a little over one-tenth of our total land area3. It is considered a major crop in 1,195 of the 1,554 municipalities in the Philippines.

With its wide range of uses - over 100 different products including food and drink, fodder for livestock, fiber and building materials - and its vast contribution to Filipino livelihood, the coconut tree is indeed the Filipino's tree of life.

But the coconut industry now faces a threat of extinction within three years unless we step up efforts to stop a deadly menace.

Tree of Life endangered

In 2005, the coconut leaf beetle, scientifically known as Brontispa longissima (Gestro), entered the country through royal palms imported from Malaysia and Thailand. These ornamental plants brought coconut beetle and larvae that hid in its folded fronds. The widespread infestation of these pests in Vietnam, Samoa, Indonesia, Thailand, Lao-PDR, Cambodia, Maldives and China has wiped out vast plantations and caused tremendous losses in these countries' revenues.

According to the Philippine Coconut Authority, our coconut industry will be wiped out in three years unless we intensify efforts to control the onslaught of coconut leaf beetle.

The coconut beetle is a small, flat, and slender beetle. Its larva and adult are most destructive to the coconut tree. They mostly stay in unopened leaflets of young coconut spears, and feed on its soft tissues. Because of this, the affected parts of the coconut decay and dry, and the tree is unable to bear fruits.

In the Philippines, this beetle is already damaging coconut plantations in 22 provinces, covering 65 municipalities around the country4. In these plantations, 20 to 100% of the coconut palms have been ravaged by the coconut leaf beetles, resulting to about 42% yield loss.5 One in every 3,363 coconut trees6 has been affected, or a total of 133,329 trees infested nationwide.

A threat to livelihood

The speed and spread of infestation threatens both smallholders and large-scale coconut plantations.

A single CLB has a lifespan of 70 to 90 days, and a female CLB lays 50 to 100 eggs in its lifetime. Because of the insect's nature, and the massive transportation of palm trees all over the Philippines, the CLB infestations had spread rapidly.

It was first identified in Pasay City in 2005, and since then infestations have spread extensively.

Data from PCA as of October 2006 shows that there were no infestations in Regions I, II, III and IV B except in Manila and Bulacan, as well as in Region IX, XII, XIII and XIV. That was only last year. Now, in less than a year, a number of provinces within these regions are CLB-infested.

These infestations have wreaked serious damage to the country's coconut industry. It is even worse than the kadang kadang which hit our coconut industry in the 50s and 60s.

If left unchecked, the CLB infestation is predicted to cost our economy Php1.4 to 2 billion in estimated loss.7 We will continue to lose more revenue, and more Filipinos can end up without any source of livelihood, if we do not address these infestations speedily and effectively.

Preserving the tree of life

To date, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) has identified measures to control and eradicate the coconut leaf beetle infestations in the country.

PCA recommends the cultural control of the CLB infestations through pruning and burning infested leaves; as well as biological control by introducing two kinds of fungi, the Green Muscardine Fungus (GMF) or the White Muscardine Fungus (WMF) in combination with the black earwig.

Chemical control through trunk injection of pesticide is also done to fast track the mitigation of pest infestation. This method will allow the recovery of severely damaged plants.

Concerned research institutions continue to formulate the integrated control measures that are both balanced and location-specific, and would keep the CLB populations to non-injurious or damaging levels.

The gravity of the CLB infestation, however, entails a more swift and multi-sectoral solution to effectively combat its spread.

Several Local Government Units (LGUs) have already imposed ordinances regulating the trade of ornamental palms which introduced the CBL in the country. Metro Manila, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Quezon and Bulacan have already been placed under quarantine by the Bureau of Plant Industry.8

An inter-agency Brontispa Action Team (BAT) was also created by virtue of DA Special Order 256 series of 2005 with a Steering Committee (SC) and a Technical Working Group (TWG) composed of decision and policy makers, and experts from different agencies.9

Spearheaded by the Philippine Coconut Authority, this taskforce develops and implements a National Brontispa Action Program to curb the CBL infestations.

However, these efforts from DA and the LGUs are still inadequate, considering the time element and the gravity of the problem threatening to wipe out the country's coconut industry.

In this light, I submit very strongly that we need to sound an urgent alarm to alert both the public and policymakers to a grave peril. Nothing less than a state of emergency in all coconut-growing provinces in the Philippines is imperative to arrest this massive infestation.

A declaration of a state of emergency will not only enable the national government to institute immediate measures but will also allow the LGUs to use their calamity funds to combat the infestation in their own locality and mobilize local officials. Moreover, this can alert the Filipino public of what is, up to now, an overlooked threat.

It will authorize the PCA and the Bureau of Plant Industry, with the assistance of the PNP, to enforce quarantine measures.

National government must set aside emergency funds to implement urgent measures necessary to combat this infestation.

Further, massive information campaigns should be conducted to educate the public. Extensive training seminars should be provided to farmers to teach them practical control methods.

Given the importance of the industry to our economy and to the livelihood of millions of Filipinos, any threat to destabilize coconut production in the Philippines should be a matter of highest concern.

The coconut indeed is the Filipino's tree of life. We cannot afford any delay in order to preserve this precious tree.

Notes

68 coconut-growing provinces: (A) CAR - Abra, Apayao, Benguetm Ifugao, Kalinga, Mt. Province; (B) ILOCOS - Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan; (C) CAGAYAN VALLEY - Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino; (D) NCR; (E) Central Luzon -Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales; (F) MIMAROPA - Mindoro Occidental, Mindoro Oriental, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan; (G) CALABARZON - Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon; (H) BICOL -- Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur 1, Camarines Sur 2, Catanduanes, Masbate, Sorsogon; (I) WESTERN VISAYAS - Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaraz, Iloilo, Negros Occidental; (J) CENTRAL VISAYAS - Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Siquijor; (K) EATERN VISAYAS - Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Southern Samar, Samar; (L) ZAMBOANGA - Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay; (M) NORTHERN MINDANAO - Bukidnon, Casmiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misami Occidental, Misamis Oriental; (N) DAVAO - Compostella Valley, Davao City, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental; (O) SOCKSARGEN - North Cotabato, Sarangani, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat; (P) CARAGA-Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur; (Q) ARMM - Basilam, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-tawi
Agricultural land area of the Philippines as of 2002 - 9.7 million hectares
Total land area of the Philippines -- 300000 sq. km
Provinces affected by CBL infestations: Pangasinan, Nueva Vizcaya, Bulacan, Manila, Aurora, Palawan, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon, Albay, Zamboanga, Camarines Nortre, Camarines Sur, Sorsogon, Aklan, Bohol, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Bukidnon, and Davao City (Source: PCA)
per PCARRD, c/o Dr. Jocelyn Eusebio, Director for Crops Research Division
Data as of September 12, 2007 from PCA
Computation of projected loss based on data re: production loss in Vietnam
per BPI Special Quarantine Order No. 03 Series of 2005 (as reported by Dr. Larry Lacson, Chief of Plant Quarantine Service, Bureau of Plant Industry)
BAT is composed of the following agencies: (1) Philippine Coconut Authority, (2) University of the Philippines- National Crop Protection Center (UPLB-NCPC), (3) the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology ( PCARRD-DOST), (4 ) Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) , and (5) representatives from LGUs and other concerned sectors