However, it is only recently, half a century later, that a focused effort was exerted on mastering the technology so that planting materials could be produced in big numbers.
The lady who had the passion to help create a viable makapuno industry is a multi-awarded scientist, Erlinda Rillo, who retired only recently from the Philippine Coconut Authority research station in Guinobatan, Albay.
She was particularly challenged after attending the Asia-Pacific Coconut Community meeting in Bangkok in 1989. At that time she saw the commercial makapuno production at the Bangkok Flower Center which produced the planting materials planted at the Makapuno Island north of Bangkok. She knew the embryos used came from the Philippines. And she felt sorry that Thailand had developed a makapuno industry of their own while the Philippines has done nothing much to develop the industry.
Since then, it became a personal challenge for her to do something positive. After all, she had trained in coconut tissue culture in England in 1984. She had also trained on tissue culture at the Colorado State University.
After her trainings on tissue culture, she had tried to ask her superiors at the PCA for her to have a research project on the propagation of 100-percent makapuno planting materials. She was routinely told, however, that there was no fund available. After all, makapuno production was not a priority.
Meanwhile, her professor at the tissue culture institute in England had urged her to make a proposal to GTZ, the German agency for technical cooperation. She reluctantly made the proposal in 1986, not really expecting much to happen. In fact, she had forgotten about it when in 1989 a private consultant of the German agency arrived in Guinobatan. He asked her what she was intending to do if the GTZ would approve her proposal. Still, she was not sure that anything positive would materialize.
Before long, however, she was advised that GTZ was providing the funds for a modern tissue culture laboratory, perhaps more sophisticated than any other such laboratory in the country. She would be spearheading the Philippine-German Coconut Tissue Culture Project, not necessarily for the production of makapuno. The project ran from 1990 to 1998. Under the project, she trained her staff on tissue culture techniques, and she has shown that coconut can be cloned using immature flowers of the ordinary variety.
Meanwhile, her desire to do something about makapuno was always in her mind despite the fact that her superiors had always told her that no funds were available for that purpose. Then came the STAND or Science and Technology Agenda for National Development of the Department of Science and Technology. Dr. Ricardo Lantican had suggested to her to make a proposal to DOST, through PCARRD, on a research project on makapuno. That was a big break for her. DOST funded a three-phased project titled “Makapuno Comprehensive Technology Development and Commercial Program.”
Of course, even before that project. she had already done her own experiments in culturing makapuno embryo. She had found that with the use of a nutrient solution developed at the University of London, she could propagate the 100 percent makapuno planting materials faster. The first phase of the project was commercial production of makapuno seedlings, followed by development of food and non-food products from makapuno. The third phase is impact assessment of the project.
In the beginning, her pace in producing planting materials was rather slow because the available embryos were limited. Within a few years, though, she was able to produce enough materials for an investor from Pilar, Sorsogon, to plant 10 hectares. That became the main source of embryos that she cultured in the laboratory.
Soon she was able to produce more and more planting materials. In fact, one investor from Masbate made an initial purchase of 2,000 seedlings to be followed by another 2,000.
The problem is that her makapuno seedlings could not be sold outside of Bicol because of the ban due to cadang-cadang disease. Many buyers outside of Bicol would like to buy her planting materials but that was not possible. The solution has been for Linda to help put up tissue culture laboratories in colleges and other government institutions so they could produce the makapuno seedlings needed by planters in their localities. Such laboratories have been put up in government institutions in Leyte, Davao City, Zamboanga, Cavite State University in Indang and in Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan. She has also helped private companies to put up their own laboratories, including Dr. Lita Ago of Legazpi City, and PhilHybrid Inc. in Los Banos, Laguna.
PhilHybrid which started operations in 2004 is now producing seedlings in commercial quantities. That’s because the company has a plantation of pure makapuno in Sto. Tomas, Batangas which produces about 2,000 nuts every month. That means it has that much embryos to propagate in its laboratory at UP Los Banos where the company is renting space. It is now selling its propagations to the public at P650 a piece. Some may think that the P650 price per seedling is quite stiff. But Linda does not think so. It takes at least two years before an embryo is ready for sale. The embryo undergoes several transfers into appropriate sizes of test tubes under sterile conditions. In the process, there’s also mortality.
PhilHybrid is also processing its makapuno meat into bottled sweets and candies. Most of the meat, however, is sold to processors. Linda says there is a huge demand for makapuno. Local processors are usually short of supply that is why some bottled makapuno manufacturers resort to adulterating their products with meat of the ordinary coconut at as much as 60 percent ordinary to 40 percent makapuno.
Big companies such as San Miguel Corporation are said to be in need of makapuno by the tons each month. Hopefully, with more and more planting materials available in different parts of the country, commercial quantities of the special coconut meat will be available in much bigger volumes.
Farmers can make much more money from makapuno because the current farmgate price is P30 to P40 per nut whereas the ordinary kind may not even fetch half those amounts.
The cultural requirements of the makapuno are not much different from those of the ordinary coconut. They just have to be fertilized with salt, chemical as well as organic fertilizer. One recommendation without the use of chemical fertilizer is to fertilize each tree with a mixture of two kilos of salt, four kilos of coir dust and four kilos of old chicken manure. The mixture could be split and applied two times a year.
Linda retired from the PCA in February this year. But she has not stopped working for the promotion of makapuno production. In fact, a local government unit in Bohol is now consulting her on how to put up a laboratory for makapuno propagation. The proponent is eyeing the Central Visayas market for the product. She is confident that those she left behind at the Guinobatan station will continue her crusade.
There are new frontiers in makapuno research. One is the production of dwarf makapuno trees by crossing the tall variety with dwarf varieties. One has already produced such a cross in Leyte. Another is the crossing of makapuno with the sweet coconut. She has already done that but she is still waiting for the result as the cross is just about to bear fruit.
Linda’s efforts have been duly recognized. She was the Gawad Saka national awardee in 2000 for outstanding basic research. In 2004, the Crop Science Society of the Philippines conferred on her the Outstanding Agricultural Scientist award. In 2007 she was given by the government the Outstanding Agricultural Scientist award, and was also cited as outstanding alumna of UP Los Banos.
Source: Agribusinessweek
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