BY: AMOR Y. SALUDAR
Central Visayas, May 20 (PIA) --- The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA-7) here implemented projects that would help in the fast recovery of the people and the coconut industry in the typhoon ravage areas specifically in North Cebu.
In a recent PIA-7 initiated Post Yolanda Disaster Rehabilitation Phase Media Briefing, PCA-7 regional manager Dennis Andres said that the four project agenda comprised debris management program, coconut replanting, coconut fertilization, food security.
The debris management program includes clearing of uprooted coconut trees in the areas devastated by typhoon Yolanda in North Cebu and Camotes Island.
Andres said there are about 179,000 coconut trees uprooted and damaged during typhoon Yolanda and this had to be cleared and be taken off from the areas that inconvenienced the people.
“We already have 36 chainsaws deployed in North Cebu to fastrack and continue the clearing operations,” Andres stressed.
PCA-7 declared that it had already cut 16,000 or 10 % of the total uprooted coconut trees. With this the agency then plans to train farmers on chainsaw operations.
The coconut replanting begins to replace them with typhoon resistance breed of coconut.
“We have 530 hectares of land for replanting and we will need 101,599 seedlings,” Andres said.
Another program is the fertilization that will help in the fast recovery of the affected coconut trees. Under this project farmers will be given fertilizers to help save the remaining coconut trees and for the fast growth of the newly planted coco trees.
Andres said that there are now 26,940 bags of fertilizer in the PCA Cebu warehouse ready for distribution.
He added that they are in close coordination with the LGUs to assist PCA in the distribution of these fertilizer bags to affected areas as this process is expensive.
PCA-7 also boost the food security of these families in the typhoon affected areas through the introduction of inter cropping method of farming.
Under this program farmers are taught to have their coco farms planted with vegetables, corn, monggo, sweet potato, banana and other crops.
PCA-7 already distributed to coco farmers about 8,810 seeds for ‘pinakbet’, 310 bags of monggo. Breed of corn for planting were also distributed to suffice food consumption of the families in the typhoon affected areas. (mbcn/AYS/PIA7)