Coconutty

Hello everyone,

My main activity since the last blog was to attend a workshop along with other VSO volunteers; our subject for the week was “Conflict management and strengthening relations with local partner organisations and communities”. Of course as well as the learning a conference is always an opportunity for some travel and good fun!

Highlights of the trip include the Tinago falls just outside Illigan, a touch of horse riding, a day canyoning and the chance to visit the big city and indulge in western style food - cheese, wine, bread and lettuce. All while spending the week in the fantastic company of the other VSO volunteers working here in the Philippines.

Back in Lanuza the waves are slow in coming this year so I have had plenty of time to put up a website for my neighbour who manufactures the bamboo surfboards. You can find the website at www.bamboosurfing.com any comments or corrections just sling them this way.

The rest of this blog is a special feature on coconuts because the coconut is such a ubiquitous and important part of the rural Philippines identity and economy.

Cocunut palms (Cocos nucifera) are one of key crop plants here in the Philippines - the other being rice. The products from the coconut palm find their way into almost every part of life as well as making up about 7% of export earnings. When forest is lost the coconut palm is the plant most likely to be planted in the wake of the deforestation.

A coconut isn’t actually a true nut but a dry fruit known as a fibrous drupe. Each nut is made up of a thick fibrous husk (this is already removed from the coconuts you can buy in the uk), then a hard shell, inside the shell is the meat (the bit you eat) and inside that is the water. Now don’t be confusing the water with coconut milk. To get milk you have to process the coconut meat by grating it then squeezing it hard, this will produce a thick, white “milk”. To get coconut cream you leave this to stand then skim the cream off the top.

A young coconut is known here as “buco” it’s the only time that the water inside is considered good for drinking. Best taken right from the tree the water is sweet and fresh with only a little coconut taste. Its also sterile which is worth remembering when you are in a rural place and looking for a safe drink. One nut will cost about 5 peso (about 5 pence).

Most coconut is processed into copra. Copra is the dried meat of a mature coconut. This can then be exported or further processed into coconut oil. The oil is used in almost any processed foods and many cosmetics as well as industrial processes. Its very high in saturated fat (higher saturated fat content than lard!!) so it stores well without going rancid and has a very high smoke point making it popular for deep frying. There is no coconut flavour. A more carefully refined product is Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) which has supposed health giving properties.

All parts of the nut are used for something. The shell is used to make jewellery and buttons but most often for charcoal. The husk is used as a fuel or processed into coir fibre products - like door mats and horticultural peat substitute.

Other parts of the palm are also used. The trunk makes a useful and decorative timber, the heart of palm makes a delicious dish but collecting it kills the palm. In the rural areas the sap tapped from the flower is fermented into a alcoholic brew known as tuba, of varying strength and quality its something like a scrumpy cider often tending towards vinegar!

The relative ease of cultivation, abundance of fruiting and access to cash markets for the product makes coconut a highly attractive proposition for the rural community. Many rural families are heavily dependant on the sale of copra (the dried meat). The problem with this is that it’s a world market commodity so the price has very little inflation (sometimes even deflation) and these families live in an economy with about 7% annual price inflation. This pushes planting ever further up the hillsides onto land that was historically lowland rainforest. Plantations are often established informally on state owned timberland which by designation is set aside for permanent forest. So it’s a brilliant crop in the right place but too much of a good thing can be very bad for the environment!

That’s all for this edition, I hope everyone is well and having fun?
Matt

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Part of trip: VSO Philippines

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