The Philippine tree of life
The coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) is a palm. From the swollen base, a slender, ringed trunk often grows to a height of thirty-two meters. The trunk is topped by a crown of large, featherlike leaves and the compound flower stalks from which the nuts develop. Flowering starts when the tree is five to seven years old and continues thereafter.
And annual yields of 100 nuts per tree can be attained, with fifty considered as good. The current annual yield in the Philippines, however, averages less the fifty, with yields of twenty-five to thirty nuts being common, perhaps because most of the coconut trees are very old. Hence, experiments are being conducted to develop early-maturing, high-yielding varieties from hybrids that bear fruit after three years to replace the old, less productive trees.
In countries where the coconut tree is a native, it is considered das “tree of life.” In addition to the edible meat and the water obtained from the still-green nut, and the oil from the mature nut, the coconut husk yields coir. Coir is a fiber that is highly resistant to salt water and is therefore the preferred raw material for ropes, mats, baskets, brushes, and brooms. Even coir dust finds usefulness as a peat substitute in agriculture. The coconut shell is used in the manufacture of charcoal. In construction, the sturdy, fibrous trunk serves as posts and beams; mature leaves are used for thatching and are also woven into baskets.
The young inflorescence yields a sweet sap when wounded or cut. The toddy produced from this, tuba, is both a beverage and a source of sugar as well as alcohol, because it may be fermented and distilled. The pith found in the core near the top of the tree, the ubod, is eaten as a salad vegetable, or more popularly in egg roll, of lumpia.
The coconut, however, attains great commercial value first as copra – the dried extracted meat from mature nuts; then as coconut oil – the result of chemical processing of the oil. It is estimated that 60 percent of the world’s coconut oil is destined for industrial use. The remaining 4- percent is used as cooking oil, margarine, and vegetable shortening. The coconut provides the world its most popular vegetable oil. From coconut oil, fatty alcohols and acids are extracted. These, in turn are utilized in many chemical products, such as soaps and shampoos, detergents, synthetic rubber, glycerin, hydraulic brake fluid, and plasticizers. Copra meal and cake, which are left over when the oil is extracted, serve as livestock feed and fertilizer. Shredded coconut is used as an ingredient in confectionery.
In the Philippines, the area planted to coconuts has expanded over the years. Visayas and Mindanao were planted with coconuts on a large scale when the plant disease called cadang-cadang hit Luzon, especially Bicol. Today, Southwestern Luzon Eastern Visayas, and Southern and Western Mindanao are the main coconut producing regions of the country. In Southern Tagalog, Quezon and Laguna are the leading producers, while Samar and Leyte are the principal coconut producers in Eastern Visayas. Davao is the coconut center in Mindanao.
The Philippines supplied about one-third of the world’s demand fro copra and coconut oil. The principal importers of copra and coconut oil are the U.S., Japan, and Europe. Current industrialization plans center around the setting up of a cocochemical industry to process coconut oil into higher value chemical preparations, for export and for the domestic chemical industry. Another prospect being discussed is the production of diesel fuel mix using coconut oil. The mixture has some potential as supplementary fuel that will reduce the dependency on crude oil.
