THE Senate on Tuesday began debating on a bill that would create a trust fund for coconut farmers in the country through the selling of assets procured through the coco levy fund.
Under Senate Bill No. 1396 or the “Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act,” the government will be mandated to sell coconut levy assets in the next five years to create a trust fund for the 2.4 million coconut farmers in the country.
“These (coco levy assets) are not giving income… I am against holding them for free, without getting any income,” said Sen. Cynthia Villar, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture.
“I don’t care if they sell it cheap or sell it high… Sell it all, get the proceeds, put it in a trust fund and give the proceeds to coconut farmers,” she said.
The proposed trust fund will be used for the following programs:
* Shared facilities for processing, ten percent (10 percent)
* Farm improvement through diversification and/or intercropping (10 percent
* Development of hybrid coconut seed farms and nurseries, to encourage self-sufficiency (10 percent)
* Empowerment of coconut farmer organization and their cooperatives (10 percent)
* Scholarship program (10 percent)
* Health and medical program (10 percent)
* Credit provision through the Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines (10 percent)
* Infrastructure development, ten percent (10 percent)
* Training of farmers in farm schools thru the Technological Education and Skills Development Authority (10 percent)
* Planting and replanting (10 percent)(GMA News)
