DA eyes P1.2B for oil palm industry development in Mindanao
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 28 February) – The Department of Agriculture (DA) is looking to allocate P1.2 billion next year to enhance the country’s fledging oil palm industry, which is centered in Mindanao. Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. greenlighted the proposed budget for 2027 after this year’s proposed P1 billion allocation was slashed to just P79 million, the DA said in a statement on Friday.
The P1.2 billion proposed budget next year for oil palm industry development will bankroll fertilizer assistance, accelerate area expansion, and boost farm productivity, underscoring a renewed push to scale up the industry, it added. “Let’s invest where farmers earn,” Laurel said.
Oil palm yields an average of about 3.8 metric tons per hectare, compared with less than one metric ton per hectare for coconut. As a result, oil palm farmers earn at least double the roughly P90,000 that coconut farmers earn annually, DA data showed. Tiu Laurel noted the need to sharpen the agency’s focus on the oil palm industry to curb imports, raise farmer’s incomes, and strengthen the country’s edible oil supply.
Oil palm currently covers about 100,000 hectares nationwide, most of them in Mindanao. Despite rising local output, the Philippines continues to import substantial volumes of edible palm oil, leaving a supply gap that the DA aims to narrow. Dexter Buted, Philippine Coconut Authority administrator, said the agency is laying the groundwork to develop the oil palm industry by cultivating planting materials locally.
“The PCA is planning to establish oil palm nurseries in selected areas in the Caraga region through the importation of germinated seeds under government-to-government arrangements,” Buted said, noting that the move is expected to significantly reduce the cost of imported planting materials. The DA is also considering the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, North Cotabato as a base for reviving and scaling up a government-backed nursery, with high-quality, disease-free planting materials to be sourced from Malaysia.
The agriculture department’s push to further strengthen Mindanao’s oil palm industry came on the heels of the expansion efforts of a key industry player based in neighboring Sultan Kudarat province in Basilan. Alfredo Montecillo, CEO and president of Kenram Palmoil Industries, Inc. (KPII), the country’s major crude palm oil producer with a manufacturing plant in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, said they are looking to develop at least 12,000 hectares of oil palm plantations in different parts of Basilan and a production plant to process crude palm oil.
Oil palm is the plant that produces edible palm oil used for frying and as ingredients for processed food and personal care products such as soap, shampoo and lotion. “We have actually been looking over the years for possible expansion of our operations. We have gone to almost all over Mindanao, looking for potential areas. When Basilan was introduced to us, we readily became interested because actually the oil palm industry in the Philippines started in Basilan,” he said.
Montecillo revealed their plans during the BARMM Investment and Trade Forum last January 13-14 in Cotabato City, which was initiated under the European Union-funded BAEP-CRESCENT. BAEP-CRESCENT stands for the Bangsamoro Agri-Enterprise Program – Creating REsponsible Sustainable Competitive ENTerprises, a project implemented by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.
Montecillo said their venture, also made possible with the help of the BAEP-CRESCENT project, will be in partnership with cooperatives formed by Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs). (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews) CAPTIONOil palm plantations thrive in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur. MindaNews photo by BONG S. SARMIENTO
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