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Archives
Feb. 1-28, 2004
Makapuno industry:
A goldmine overlooked
by Ma. Lizbeth J.
Baroņa
 Here’s
the good news for coconut growers: the domestic market
needs 4 million kg of the highly-priced makapuno meat
annually. The sad fact is, less than 3% of that demand
is being met. This reality is a gaping hole in a scenario
where economic opportunity is elusive. What are we doing
to address this problem?
A study by the Philippine Coconut (PCA)
Authority in Albay puts the problem in proper perspective.
Makapuno
Growing Makapuno is unlike growing ordinary coconut
trees. It’s embryo germinates abnormally, hence
the soft endosperm – the main feature of Makapuno
– grows almost filling up the whole nut. This
abnormality is due to a single recessive gene that controls
the Makapuno endosperm.
Makapuno is conventionally grown using
non-Makapuno nuts. These nuts are borne together in
a bunch with the Makapuno, called kabuwig. These nuts
are possible carriers of the Makapuno character, therefore
a potential Makapuno bearer. This method has proven
to be low yielding.
Market
opportunity lost
Coconut farmers in the Southern Tagalog region know
a huge market opportunity is passing them by because
the product they are constrained to mass produce is
priced nearly ten times the ordinary coconut. A nationwide
survey in 1996 showed that there are only about 30,000
Makapuno trees in the country. Although farmers in Cavite,
Batangas, Laguna, and Quezon have been raising Makapuno
for decades, their counterparts in Thailand, through
an expert who discovered the market opportunity in Makapuno
from Filipino experts, are reaping the promise of the
tree more successfully.
This reality, the study suggests, makes
it imperative for the country to invest more in the
development of the Makapuno industry.
The breakthrough
technology
Makapuno palms that could give potentially 100% Makapuno
nuts were developed by the late Dr. Emerita de Guzman
in the 1960s through coconut embryo culture. The technology
has since then been optimized at the Philippine Coconut
Authority-Albay Research Center and is now being used
to mass propagate the Makapuno coconut in the Philippines
as well as in collecting, conserving and transporting
coconut germplasm among and between coconut growing
countries in the world.
Optimizing the technology results into
an embryo culture that has been successfully transferred
and adopted by various Makapuno embryo culture laboratories
in the country for mass production of the makapuno coconut.
With the prospects of higher yield of
Makapuno now in sight, the development and promotion
of Makapuno food products is now being undertaken. The
study suggested, with the spearheading of the government,
that research should be conducted to study and develop
new ways to promote the commercialization of the Makapuno.
Source: The need for a focused and aggressive
development of the Makapuno coconut: An important coconut
genetic resource of the Philippines, Erlinda P. Rillo,
Philippine Coconut Authority – Albay Research
Center 
February 1-28 2004 Articles:
:: S&T
in agriculture is strategy for hunger-free Philippines-FAO
::
Nat'l
convergence team consults with 3 major islands
::
Sweet
Elena is identified as best mango variety
::
Farmer's
Field Day showcases hybrid corn technologies
::
DEBESMSCAT
hosts Bicol's first white research corn review
::
She
holds her own bright light
::
I
say, Mindanao is exciting
::
Lessons
from a peri-urban agri project
::
Makapuno
industry: A goldmine overlooked
::
Reaping
benefits from China's Nongda 108
::
The
silent giant in tomato land
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