LUCENA CITY -- As millions of coconut farmers across the country continue to besiege the government with complaints over the sorry state of the coconut industry, a group of local small entrepreneurs here in the capital of the former largest coconut-producing province has since turned the predicament into a livelihood opportunity. 

Ademar Mabulay, 48, and resident of the rural village of Isabang, says that for the past 20 years of his life, selling buko (young coconut), buko juice (sweet coco water) and ubod (fresh coconut pith) has provided for his family. 

"I formerly sold fish in the village but with credits fast piling up, which eventually also devoured my small capital, I found myself also selling fresh coconuts in the city market alongside my barrio mates," he recalls. 

He added: "Now, I'm proud to announce that this coconut peddling job, may be lowly in the eyes of onlookers, has provided financial comfort for my family and also the money that has secured the college diplomas of my two children-mass communication and education graduates." 

The next stall owner, couple Roberto and Josefina Belen, also residents of the same village and only a couple of months ahead of the Mabulays in the trade, also boast that their hard work in selling coconut products has helped tide them over difficult times. 

"This job also allowed my daughter to successfully finish her medical technology course," the proud Josefina says. 

Patience

She only complained of having to wake up very early, especially when there are big orders for the next day. "Sometimes we wake up as early as two in the morning." 

Her husband, Roberto, described the nature of their work as "tiyagaan lang (one that needs a lot of patience)." 

Mabulay, who also tends the stall with his wife, says they were only few of them in the trade when they first started selling near the city market. 

"It was not yet a viable business. We only had few regular customers, mostly those who came from their daily morning exercise in the nearby Perez Park who liked to drink fresh coconut water as a thirst quencher and also those who needed a drink of it in the morning for medicinal purposes," he says. 

Sometimes, occasional buyers of fresh coconut meat would show up, he adds. 

These days, coconut water account for the bulk of their income from the coconut business. 

He says some buko buyers keep only the meat, and the leftover coconut water means additional bonus for Mabulay and his group of 16 peddlers at the side of the old BLTB bus terminal along Merchan Street. 

"We mix the buko juice in a glass container with additional strips of grated coconut meat, sugar and lots of ice and sell it for five pesos each," he says. 

During hot days, 500 pesos is an easy target income for a day, according to the vendors. 

Based on the Philippine Coconut Authority information handouts, "coconut water is also called liquid endosperm. The coconut water is also believed to cure renal disorders." 

"Bukolysis," as it is also called, is the medical process of reducing or dissolving urinary stones using buko water from seven to nine month old coconuts. 

"Coconut water is commonly promoted as an economical thirst quencher, hunger satisfier and medical cure-all in one," the PCA says. 

Tree of Life

The coconut tree is called "The Tree of Life" because of the endless list of products and by-products derived from its various parts. 

The coconut industry, during its heyday, was also considered a major dollar earner that provided livelihood to one-third of the country's population. 

Mabulay recalls that when they entered the business, there was a housing development boom.

He also remembered that the frenzy of subdivision constructions inside coconut farmlands was then a regular sight in the province. 

"So, naturally, there were quite a number of coconut trees being cut daily. That's where we realized the opening of a livelihood opportunity," Mabulay says. 

He says they paid P1 for three young coconuts during their early years in the business, which they would sell in the market for three pesos to four pesos. 

The buko peddlers now buy a piece of young coconut from their source for six pesos each, which they sell for ten pesos. 

Grated coconut meat costs 60 pesos a kilo, from about six pieces of young coconuts. 

"If the coconut has no meat inside, we have to open up to 10 nuts to get a kilo." he said. 

The young coconut fruit produces buko that is often used for salads, halo-halo and sweet candies.

According to PCA handouts, the young coconut meat comes in three varieties: mala-kanin, or having the consistency of boiled rice; mala-uhog, mucus-like consistency and ready for eating; and mala-katad, or like leather. The last kind is the one used for making sweets. 

Ubod

"Fresh young coconut in a shell normally lasts for about a week. The same with unpeeled coconut pith," he says. 

Mabulay says he no longer remembered the original purchase price of the coconut pith. 

The young coconut pith can be used in making coco pickles, vegetable dish cooked with coconut milk and the more popular lumpiang sariwa. 

Now, the coconut peddlers buy the pith at five pesos each from coconut lumber traders who usually cut trees several kilometers away from the nearest road network. 

"We're the ones who will get the pith from the fallen tree," he says. But he stressed that they make it a point to only transact with licensed coconut lumber traders. 

Mabulay's group would later sell it in plastics of one kilo or one-half kilo each. Each kilo costs 30 pesos. 

He says most of Quezon coconut farmlands were already depleted due to the coconut lumber trade. 

Mabulay discloses that they now secure their stocks from as far as Batangas and Laguna. 

"And the farther the source, the more capital for us due to the transportation cost," he explains. 

"But there are always ready supplies due to the cheap price of copra. Instead of producing copra, most coconut landowners just cut their trees and sell it to lumber traders," he explains. 

Coco Lumber

Based on the 2001 yearend report of the PCA in Southern Tagalog, with the low price of copra, the farmers in six coconut-producing provinces in the region found it more profitable to cut coconut trees and turn them into lumber. 

The PCA notes that compared to the year 2000, the number of applications for permit to cut coconut trees registered an increase of 11 percent from 2001. In 2000, the coconut trees cut were 214,416 covering 2,144 hectares, compared to 237,837 trees felled the next year that covered 2,378 hectares.

Quezon topped the list of provinces that cut the most number of trees, followed by Laguna. 

Mabulay notes that the peak seasons for their business usually coincide with community festivities such as fiestas, holidays and summer. 

He says buyers from neighboring towns also regularly drop by and buy their stuff. "But during the rainy season, the buyers are scarce." 

He says most of them also regularly supply several restaurants and caterers in the city and neighboring towns with buko meat and sliced coconut pith. 

The vendors' group pays 200 pesos per jeepload of coconut husks to be dumped in the city's garbage dumping site in the outskirts of the city.