The Department of Agriculture and the Philippine Coconut Authority is partnering with the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) in setting up a “Coco Agribusiness Center” in response to Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar’s campaign to rev up the sector through inclusive agribusiness.

During a meeting on September 3, 2019, Secretary Dar reiterated that it is high time to “turn our coco farmers into agripreneurs.”

To achieve this, Secretary Dar recommended a value chain for coconut to be implemented, involving all sectors across the chain. “Inclusive agribusiness, private sector partnership, and farmer-cooperative clustering are the key elements,” said Secretary Dar.

UCPB must also convince the private sector to work with 200 farmer-cooperatives as part of the big brother-small brother approach.

Aside from the Coco Agribusiness Center, UCPB also proposed a Malasakit Center for the coco sector, patterned from non-partisan “Malasakit Center,” which serves as a one-stop-shop where agencies provide financial and medical assistance to poor and indigent patients. This initiative will function as a streamlining mechanism to speed up various aids (technical, financial, etc.) especially for the coco farmers. ### (Daryl Lou A. Battad)