ALBAY COCO COIR INDUSTRY UPDATES

COCO COIR INDUSTRY UPDATES in Albay The Department of Trade and Industry-Albay Provincial Office, through the Rural Micro Enterprise Promotion Program (RUMEPP) conducted a four-day Skills

Training on Coco Fiber Twining and Weaving last July 24-25 & July 26-27, 2012 in Barangay Tastas, Ligao City and Brgy. Cagmanaba, Oas, Albay, respectively. In Tastas, Ligao City, the training was conducted in partnership with the Local Government Unit of Ligao and Tastas Multi-Purpose Cooperative. A total of 41 participants, who are mostly members of the Tastas Multi-Purpose Cooperative, attended the training. During the closing ceremonies, Mayor Linda P. Gonzalez of Ligao City came over and promised the participants that the LGU will purchase or fabricate initial 20 units of twining machines in addition to the starter kit composed of 2 sets twining machines and 1 unit handloom provided by DTI, to be distributed to selected beneficiaries. Tastas Multi-Purpose Cooperative is a beneficiary of the Agencia Espanol Cooperacion International pare el Desarollo (AECID) assistance which provided the cooperative decorticating machine, truck and other equipment for coco-coir production, however, the plant is not yet operational pending power connection with the Albay Electric Cooperative. In the meantime that the plant is yet operating, Juboken Enterprises, which was hired as trainer for the above training, will initially supply coco fiber to the cooperative so that the trainees could already continue their livelihood on coco coir twining and weaving. In Cagmanaba, Oas, the DTI partnered with the US Dignity Products and Services, Inc., a new US-based company that invested on a multi-million integrated coconut processing plant in the area. The company will primarily engage in processing Virgin Coconut Oil, coco flour, chips from coco shell and eventually in coco-coir processing for export 100% to the US. It is due to start full blast operation within the year. The plant targets to utilize 16,000 pieces of coconut daily and plans to employ 150 direct workers. The DTI is also currently assisting the company in registering with the Board of Investments or at the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. The training was participated in by 36 group leaders from neighboring five coastal barangays of Cagmanaba and was conducted at the newly constructed facilities of Dignity Products. Given the enthusiasm shown by the participants, the company management decided to initially tie-up with Juboken Enterprises for the supply of coco fiber to the beneficiaries so they could continue with their learned skills on twining and weaving. The company also signified its interest on possibly partnering with Juboken for its Coco Coir Decorticating business. Negotiations between the two companies are on-going. The same training were conducted to the following groups and dates: August 21-22, 2012 - Caguiba, Camalig - 31 participants August 30-31, 2012 - St. Francis Resettlement Site, Camalig - 30 participants October 16-17, 2012 - San Vicente ARC, Oas - 40 participants October 18-19, 2012 - Balinad, Polangui - 54 participants October 23-24, 2012 - Batang, Ligao City - 37 participants October 25-26, 2012 - Balogo, Oas - 36 participants