REGISTRATION. A fruit-bearing coconut tree in a backyard in Sibalom, Antique. Philippine Coconut Authority Antique head Gregory Teñoso III, in an interview Friday (Jan. 19, 20224), called for farmers to register with the National Coconut Farmers Registry System (NCFRS) to avail of assistance. (PNA photo by Annabel Consuelo J. Petinglay)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) targets to reach 15,000 unregistered coconut farmers living in the mountainous areas of Antique this year.
“We would like the farmers to avail of the assistance from the PCA, but they need to be registered first,” PCA Antique head Gregory Teñoso III said in an interview Friday.
He said they have registered 30,402 farmers with the National Coconut Farmers Registry System (NCFRS) as of September 2023.
Teñoso added 34,200 coconut seed nuts and 12,600 seedlings are waiting for distribution to registered farmers who could avail of up to 143 seedlings for every hectare of plantation.
They can also avail of fertilizers and technical assistance.
“Farmers could coordinate with their Municipal Agriculture Offices, barangay officials, or their federations so we could schedule our agriculturists to come to their areas for registration if they could not personally visit our provincial office in San Jose de Buenavista,” he said.
Antique has 30,367 hectares planted with 3,044,951 coconut trees, of which almost 1.7 million are in their fruit-bearing stage. (PNA)
