The Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) has turned over fabricated tricycles to two proponent cooperatives in the Province of Marinduque to serve as a hauling and mobile decorticator service for their coco geonet and coco coir production.

One of its recipients was the “Marinduque Coco Geonets Production and Processing” enterprise of the Tanikala ng Pagkakaisa Multi-Purpose Cooperative (TPMPC). Based in Boac, the cooperative intends to provide alternative income opportunities to its small-scale farmer-members by making and selling geonets from coconut husks.

Coconut husks are biodegradable copra waste products that will be decorticated to produce coco fiber or coco coir. When twisted, these decorticated fibers will create coco twines which are woven to make geonets.

Coco peat, the waste product from the decortication process, will also be marketed as an additional income. This is commonly used as organic fertilizer or rice hull substitute for backyard swine growers.

The other beneficiary of the fabricated tricycle is the “Butansapa Coco Coir Processing” subproject of the Butansapa Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BBMPC). This is a microenterprise that focuses on coco coir, coco fiber twines, and coco peat production only.

Coco coir is not just used in the production of geonets but also in local handiworks, upholstery cushions, boat sealants, and other similar industrial products.

Aside from bringing the mobile decorticating machine – that is also PRDP-funded – around the decortication areas, the fabricated tricycle will be used to haul husks from the coconut plantation to the decortication site, it will also be utilized in transporting coir and transferring hank of coco twines to the main processing plant and other twining areas.

For the member-beneficiaries of each group who are directly involved in the production of geonets, the service vehicle will not only enable them to save time but also maximize their everyday production.

Marinduque is a leading grower of coconut trees and copra producer in the MIMAROPA region. The PRDP, by providing assistance to rural communities, aims to contribute to the development of the province’s coconut industry, one of the high value crops in the country.  ### (Leira Vic Colongon, DA-PRDP MIMAROPA RPCO InfoACE Unit)

Butansapa Coco Coir Processing Chairman, Mario Villanueva, receives the PRDP-funded tricycle, on behalf of his organization. (Photos by Richard Calub, DA-PRDP Marinduque PPMIU GGU)