DAVAO CITY, Philippines (PIA) – The Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance or ACDI/VOCA, an international non-profit organization that implements the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-funded CoCoPal (Coconut, Cacao, and Palay) Integrated Farming Systems Project in Mindanao opened earlier the CoCoPal model cacao nursery situated at Kilometer 12, Bernabe Subdivision, Catalunan Pequeño, this city.
“Presently, we are providing support to qualified nursery operators and partners in our project areas. In Davao City, we supported the establishment of a model nursery with 100,000 production capacity to showcase best practices in cacao nursery production,” said Nicholas Richards of the ACDI/VOCA.
Seeing the need to assist cacao farmers in mastering the skill in farming, the CoCoPal project started its assistance by showcasing the best practices by some of the successful farmers and sharing it as a learning tool for new and interested farmers.
It was learned that CoCoPal promotes the integration of coconut and cacao in a Palayamanan system of rice farming.
One of the components of the CoCoPal Project is the establishment of plant material facilities to ensure the supply of good quality seedlings.
The project will also review the existing value chains for those crops at the outset of the program to ensure that activities focus on the opportunities and constraints within each value chain, resulting in increased farmer participation and benefits.
More farmers have shifted to cacao farming after seeing the growing demand of cacao from international market.
Cacao is now among the top 20 export commodities of Davao Region.
Every year, the Region-11 office of the Bureau of Customs (BoC-11) comes up with a list of top 20 commodities exported from the region, which are determined based on their export value.
The BoC-11 Export Division disclosed that cacao has finally made it to be among the top 20 export commodities with a total value of $1.4 million.
Destinations of cacao beans exported from the region include Belgium, China, Germany, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Thailand, and the United States.
It was also learned that the volume of cacao exports from the region increased by six fold – from 151 metric tons in 2008 to 1,112 metric tons in 2009.
In another development, local government officials from selected Mindanao conflict-affected areas expressed their support for the sustainability of the Barangay Justice for Peace (BJP) project in their respective areas, during a recent event marking the culmination of the project.
At the gathering called BJP End of Congress held recently in this city, the local government units (LGUs) of Maguindanao, Tawi-tawi, Davao del Sur, Cotabato, Saranggani, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga Sibugay have donated almost P8 million for the expansion of BJP activities, especially in the villages where the impact is still not felt.
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