Press Release
March 17, 2007

Recto wants coco levy fund used in war vs coco pest
Says fund may be utilized to protect emerging coco-diesel industry

Senator Ralph Recto is urging government to set a huge sum of money to protect the coconut industry from infestation by the coconut hispine beetle that threatens to ruin the lives of 3.5 million farmers depending on copra trade, a sector that has an annual turnover of P356 billion.

In his swing through coconut growing areas in Luzon, Recto described the coconut hispine beetle as a dangerous insect that has already wrought havoc in some areas, just three years after the pest was introduced into the country from imported ornamental plants.

Brontispa longissima Gestro feeds on young leaves, kills the young spears and prevents the palm from bearing fruits and eventually kills the entire tree.

Recto wants the Arroyo administration to declare war against this deleterious beetle and says it is an enemy that is much fearsome, virulent and merciless that the Abu Sayyaf.

The Batangas senator also proposed that part of the multi-billion Coconut Industry Development Fund (CIDF) be allocated to develop the coco-diesel industry following the enactment of the Biofuels Law, which compels all oil companies to blend one percent of coco oil for every liter of diesel.

The coco levy funds could be put to good use by financing this two-pronged drive to protect coconut trees and promote the use of coco-diesel for land vehicles and other agricultural implements, Recto stressed.

Recto raised the specter of massive Brontispa infestation following reports that the dreaded beetles have been swarming in coconut plantations in Mindanao, to the chagrin of farmers.

Originally from Sulawesi, Indonesia, Brontispa spread in the late 1990s to the Maldives, Nauru, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and China, all of which suffered huge reductions in their annual revenues from coconuts. Vietnam alone lost $1 billion from Brontispa infestation, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

This coconut-chomping beetle has shown a high level of resilience and no amount of chemical spraying has killed the deadly insect, Recto revealed.

With billions of CIDF funds largely untouched and earning huge interest, perhaps it is now time for the government to act with dispatch and use the proceeds of the fund in devising scientific viable eradication campaign against Brontispa beetles, the senator added.

Agricultural experts have said that the only way to win the war against Brontispa infestation is through pruning and clean culture, Recto said.

He also called for the release of calamity funds, recently augmented by P1 billion in the recently-passed P47 billion 2007 supplemental budget, for research and for means on how to stop the pest.

There is so much at stake. One in four hectares of total farmland is under threat, and this means 324 million coconut trees could be destroyed. No less than 25 million persons directly or indirectly dependent on the industry also face a bleak future unless Brontispa infestation is controlled and eradicated. In its heyday, the Abu Sayyaf never threatened these many people, Recto said.

To show how important copra prices are to the rest of the economy, Recto said the rise and fall of beer sales follow the ups and downs of copra prices and college enrollment is also dependent on how good or bad the copra price is.

The Brontispa beetle is the new face of terror. The havoc that human terrorists can do is small to what these pests can do, he said.

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