The Department of Agriculture-Philippine Coconut Authority (DA-PCA) has initially identified 2.9 million out of the 3.1 million coconut farmers listed in the National Coconut Farmers Registry System (NCFRS) as qualified beneficiaries of programs under the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan (CFIDP).
The CFIDP sets the directions and policies for the modernization and industrialization of the Philippine coconut industry within 50 years to increase the productivity and incomes of millions of marginal coconut farmers and their families.
For the CFIDP pre-implementation activities, the Program Management Office (PMO) of PCA reported that the ongoing nationwide enlisting, delisting, and updating process (EDUP) of all registered coconut farmers and farm workers ensure the integrity of the data.
The PCA Regional Offices are leading the continuous cross-validation and registration of coconut farmers in the country as the updated registry will ensure that all registered farmers will be supported through the CFIDP.
With P75 billion guaranteed funding for five years through the Republic Act (RA) 11524 or the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act, the CFIDP shall implement national programs for community-based enterprises, social protection of farmers, and coconut farmers organization and development.
Through the CFIDP, programs on innovative research projects and their practical application and integrated processing of coconut and downstream products will also be implemented.
Harmonization and convergence workshops with identified National Implementing Agencies under RA 11524 were also conducted as part of the CFIDP pre-implementation.
The workshops resulted in the finalization of the operations manual (with reporting channels and structures, risk management plan, monitoring and evaluation structure including Year 1 programs, and financial management plan) and the identification of CFIDP focal persons.
In addition, the software requirement for the Integrated Information Management System (IIMS) will be developed to automate submissions, reporting, monitoring and data collection and to have a system for consolidated monitoring to be accessed by the PMO, implementing agencies, and the public.
Seven out of 11 memorandums of agreement with implementing agencies have been reviewed and approved. For efficient sharing of data, data sharing agreements were also drafted with the concerned agencies.
In line with the 36th National Coconut Week celebration this year, the CFIDP was launched in all regions on August 11–25, 2022 to cascade the programs in the field, register more eligible farmers, and fast-track the program implementation. ### (Gumamela Celes Bejarin, DA-AFID)
