The role of the Philippine coconut industry in developing a self-sufficient national economy

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Part of The Coconut Journal

Title: The role of the Philippine coconut industry in developing a self-sufficient national economy
extracted text: • 'Wbat tbe coconut industry can do to Pbilippine economy THE ROLE OF THE PHILIPPINE COCONUT INDUSTRY IN DEVELOPING A SELF SUFFICIENT NATIONAL ECONOMY By V. G. LAVA Bureau of Science A LTHO the copra industry was one of the major export industries of the Philippines even before American occupation, its actual value was small, Hmounting to only around 1.5 million pesos for the year 1899. The reciprocal trade relations between the U. S. and the Philippines which have been in effect since 1907, and the world war of 1914-1918, however, changed this status of the Philippine coconut industry. From a position of minor importance in Pihilippine national economy as compared to our basic staple and most important product, rice, the coconut has be rome the tilird most important agricultural product in our country, and is now affecting the lives of 25 per cent of our population. There is, however. one very grave difference be tween the roles of rice and coconut in our national economy. We consume all the rice we can produce. and in fact import rice on special occasions when we have drought, flood, or locust or uther infestations during our rice season. But in the case of coconut. we consume only around 8 per cent of our production, and of our total export of coconut products, more than l'lO per cent goes to only one country, the U. S. This situation makes it very hard for our coco nut producers to obtain high prices for their goods and to maintain a semblance of economic indepen dence. And this precariousness becomes the more aggravated when the U. S .. because of its inability to stabilize its own internal and extt•rnal markets, is forced to impose a system of quotas, excise taxes. and export taxes on our products, <llld to grant re rip•·ocal trade relations to other countries which pro duce oils and oil products eompetinl! with our coconut po1·ducts. Even at the present moment, when, because of the exigencies of war there is a great demand for co conut products in the U. S., lack of bottoms prevents a great outflow of these products, and high costs of transportation and insurance prevent our producers from cashing in on the high prices these coconut products command in the U. S. market. And after the present war, with the inevitabl� chaotic shifting of war-time industries to peace-time industries, it can be expected that a world economic crisis far greater than any ever yet witnessed in the past, will ensue, and that our coconut industry will be beset with hard times, the like of which have never yet been experienced here. At the same time, because of the artificial devel opment of our export industrie:;, we have been habituated to import products from other countries, not ably the U. S., to balance our export trade. But the significant and (especially to the coconut producers) important fact about these Philippine imports is that there are possibilities that a gr·eat portion of these imports ma.y be der·ived from the coconut. Consider the following export and import statis tics of the Bureau of Census and Statistics and the Bureau of Customs, relative to coconut products and products directly or indirectly related to them: Table I. E:rport of coconut p-rodu cts fo r July 1939-June 194t• Product Coconut oil Copra Weight in Kilos 170,124,004 402,276,983 41,541,317 118,323,330 Total . . . . Desiccated coconut Copra meal and cake Value in Pesos 19,864,837 26,943,593 8,737,16!) 4,189,598 . 59,730,197 Table II. Im po rt of products relatP-d to coconut for hly 1939-June 1940 Product Weight in Kilos Value in Peso.� ]\'I ilk 243,323,924 7,920,559 Flout· 106,419,776 8,977,012 Gasoline (liters) 221,332,711 9,193,950 Kerosene (liters) 88,302,270 3,282,221 Fuel Oil (crude) (liters) 468,605,401 7,191,598 Glycerine (kilos) 24,259 13,115 Cottonseed oil (kilos) 803,782 265,268 Olive oil (kilos) 102,759 49,921 Total . . 36,893,654 It will be seen from Table I that in the fiscal y�ar 1939-1940, around 60 million pesos worth of co conut products were exported in the form of copra, coconut oil, desiccated coconut and copra cake. For the same fiscal year it will be seen from Table II that we imported milk, flour, gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil. glycerine and edible vegetable oils other than coconut to the extent of around 37 million pesos, or around f)2 per cent of our exportation of coconut products. Now coconut milk is not cow milk, but preliminary experiments have indicated that by proper adjustment, coconut milk may be made as nutl·itious as cow milk. Furthermore, coconut meat may have other desirable physiological properties. ' And ii in Qther countries, such as China and even the U. S .. soy bean milk il> Page 11 being extensively used to take the place of cow milk, why not coconut milk, especially when vitamins and mineral constituents can now be added to it in synthe tic form? In the Bureau of Science laboratories coconut milk having the properties of a stable emulsion like cow milk, has been successfully prepared. And small-scale preparations show that coconut milk can even be can ned, evaporated, condensed, and probably even pro duced as powder. In times of emergency, coconut milk may have to be substituted for cow milk, and its uses for drinking, for daily cooking and for preparing milk products can be expected to become more univer sally accepted from then on. And let us not forget that this milk, being a by product in the manufacture of ediblt oil from fresh coconut meat, its market price could be adjusted so as to be within the purchasing power of the masses. In the case of flour, a similar situation obtains. We import around 9 million pesos worth of flour. But a flour can be produced from the coconut cake by product of coconut oil that has more crude fiber and proteins than wheat flour but less soluble carbohy drates. Mixed with wheat flour it produces good bread, cake and cookies. By substituting coconut flour for wheat flour to the extent of 20 per cent, we can Rave more than 1.5 million pesos for the coconut in dustry. The Bureau of Science is carrying on further studies on the utilization of coconut cake for food purposes. The Bureau of Plant Industry has also been carrying on intensive investigations on the utili zation of local plant products, including coconut flour, as partial substitutes for wheat flour. Their efforts are obtaining encouraging results, which, if put into commercial production, will greatly contribute to the curtailment of our flour importation. The preparation of motor fuel and other light spirits from vegetable and animal oils has been the subject of many investigations in many countries, notably France, Italy, U. S., Japan, and China. These investigations have shown that gasoline and kero sene fractions can easily be obtained from these oils. But considering the high initial cost fo the oils them selves, and considering the comparatively low cost of the gasoline motor fuel, it is evident that gasoline and kerosene manufactured from vegetable or animal oils cannot compete with gasoline and kerosene obtained from crude mineral oil, unless the initial cost of these vegetable or animal oils can be lowered. Now, if coconut oil is manufactured directly from fresh coconut meat, the by-products of thii oil such as coconut milk and coconut flour can be processed and reinforced with the proper constituents to serve as nutritious foods. Ccoonut protein, another by-product, 1 Dr. Weston A. Price, dean of American dentists, in his book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. A Compari$on ol Modern Dieb and their Effects (Published in 1939 by Paul B. Hoeber, Inc.), makes the following interesting observation in one of the Pacific Islands: Until the last World War of 1914-1918, copra in this island was cheap and the inhabitants lived on native food. The price of copra was then suddenly boosted to 4{)0 dollars per ton which was paid for in 90 per cent white wheat Oour and refined sugar and 10 per cent cloth and clothing. The effect was that dental decay made its appearance for the first time in the Island. When after the war, the pricP. of copra dropped to 4 dol Jars per ton and trading ships no longer called, tooth decay stop ped. For observations on medicinal properties of coconuts see Tavera, Philippine Medicinal Plants. Page 12 The COCONlTT JOURN AI� can be sold as animal feed, or further processed for human consumption. Then, too, the coconut husks can be processed to yield marketable fiber and materials for wall board, sound-proofing, etc. The industriali zation of these by-products will tremendously in crease the income of our coconut industry. But another way of looking at this advantage is that with all this added income from the by-products, we shall be in a position to lowed the cost of our coco nut oil to such a low level as to place it on a com petitive basis even with mineral oils. The lowering of the cost of production of coco nut oil is an important consideration in the technology of motor fuel. It is possible that a time will come when, because of a prolonged world economic crisis after the present war, no adequate foreign market may be found for our export products. If we cannot sell, we cannot buy, and we certainly will have diffi culty in buying our gasoline and kerosene require ments from abroad. But since we cannot sell our co conut products abroad, and since we shall by then be getting more income from the by-products of oil, why shouldn't we manufacture our gasoline and kero sene requirements from our surplus coconut oil? In this way, we can always be assured of a market for our coconuts, when foreign markets and monopolies fail us {)r try to control and depress the prices of our coconut products to very low levels. Furthermore, if we can commercially produce (PINrM turn to PWI'' .181 Compliments of MANILA MACHINERY & SUPPLY CO., INC. 675 Dasmarifias, Manila Branch BAGUIO Main Office MANILA Branch SAN FRANCISCO The COCONUT ,JOURNAL THE ROLE OF THE PHILIPPINE . (Continued from pagr. 12) gasoline and kerosene from coconut oil, we should also be able to produce our crude fuel oil require ments, amounting to around 7 million pesos, from co conut oil, or in fact, use our coconut oil directly as · fuel oil. Preliminary studies in the Bureau of Science show that we can utilize our low-grade coals in con junction with crude mineral fuel oil for possible use in internal combustion engines and in boilers. The substitution of coconut oil for mineral oil in such power requirements will not only help to stablize our coconut industry further, but may also help in the more efficient utilization of our low-grade coals. Again, we see from Table II that we still import vegetable oils to the extent of around 300,000 pesos. These oils are essentially for table purposes, probably as salad oil and as cooking oil. By special processing we can produce salad oil from coconut oil, and also give the right flavor to coconut oil to make an olive oil substitute. The substitution of coconut oil for olive oil will not only take care of our local importa tion, but may also open up a vast opportunity to divert a great portion of our coconut oil exportation to the South American countries, where no restrictions on our products exist. Only brief mention need be made here of gly cerine and stearine from coconut oil. In peace times glycerine is used in the manufacture of dynamite Compliments of Jl6lJ/t!Jll[)O'S ffiAID SlORE • �00 JUnn LUOA • ffiAnlLR Pag� 48 for road and bridge building, and for mmmg activi ties; glycerine is also used as a softening agent in the tobacco industry, as a constituent of plastic ma terials, as a basic ingredient of film in the moving picture industry, and as a basic material of viscose in the rayon and cellophane industries. In war times glycerine is used mainly in the manufacture of ex plosives. In 1940 the Philippines imported more than 4 million kilos of dynamite worth around 2.3 million pesos. This suggests the possibility of local manu facture of dynamite from glycerine, which can be produced as a by-product in the manufacture of soap. Stearine, better known in the trade as coconut butter or chocolate fat, is used extensively in vege table lard manufacture and in the manufacture of candy. Disregarding our present exportation of ve getable lard and butter to other countries, in 1940 we imported 147,357 kilos of chocolate candy alone, which shows that we can start th� manufacture of stearine for local consumption. Needed: A Dynamic Philippinism The concretizing of the above possibilities for a self-sufficiency program depends upon our own 1111tiative and energy. There are required: first of all, a great amount of completed groundwork of techno logic investigations which can be immediately tran slated into plant or at least semi-commercial plant practice-fortunately in the case of coconut oil, we already have a great deal of this technological work; secondly, a competent body of marktting experts and salesmen to popularize aggressively and market co conut products, as soon as the production stage is reached; thirdly, a strong body of executives who could direct the work of immediate industrialization and of long-range planning for the coconut industry; and fourthly, an extensive organization of coconut producers to accelerate their program of industrial ization and take whatevet· steps are necessary to protect theit· own interests. Of all the agricultural export industries in thP Philippines, the coconut industry has up to now the best possibilities of stabilization and of playing an ·important role in the economic self-sufficiency of the country. Let dynamic Philippini8m tran!llate these possibilities into concrete realities! Compliments of a National Coconut Corporation Supplier
Date: 1941
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