The Philippine government is eyeing the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to expand the overseas presence of locally produced coconuts, according to the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF).
In a statement, PCAF said its National Sectoral Committee on Coconut recently convened concerned government officials and private sector-partners to explore Middle East market opportunities for local coconut products through Project Coco Bridge.
‘Its goal is to move Philippine coconut products from export potential to actual commercial and retail presence in the UAE,’ said Michael Sollera, Philippine Agriculture Attaché for the Middle East, Africa and India.
During the meeting, a proposal was raised to utilize the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan (CFIDP), an industry blueprint funded by the coco levy fund to revitalize the country’s coconut industry.
However, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) said government accounting regulations and fund limitations should be reviewed before allocating funds for this project.
Project Coco Bridge is an initiative of the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Dubai, in partnership with The Hub Trading and Logistic Services and the Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Agricultural Attaché for the Middle East, Africa and India.
It aims to assess the export readiness of coconut products across the Gulf Cooperation Council region while addressing various trade barriers.
These include buyer access, production capacity, packaging, labeling and regulatory compliance.
The project adopts a three-phase structure: market readiness diagnostic, business matching, and retail activation and consumer engagement.
The first stage of the project evaluated 24 of the 37 Philippine coconut manufacturers contacted by the government. Of those evaluated, nine were export-ready while five exhibited strong potential pending further technical support.
PCAF said several participating enterprises already received assistance through the CFIDP. However, the assessment revealed that the PCA and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) should align and clarify the specific support they can extend to the project.
For its part, The Hub Managing Director Lito German said the company is responsible for assessing distribution channels across UAE modern trade, traditional retail outlets, food service, and e-commerce platforms such as Amazon.
German said the project prioritizes small and medium enterprises to help assess and build their capacity to meet global standards.
Products under consideration include coconut sugar, jam, oil, milk, cream, juices, snacks, nata de coco, desiccated coconut, vinegar and protein bars.
‘The project’s succeeding phase will explore additional products based on UAE market demand and assess whether our Filipino producers can supply them,’ German said.
During the meeting, Kilusan para sa Repormang Agraryo at Katarungang Panlipunan’s Danny Carranza said that many smallholder farmers have encountered limited to low-value copra production due to technical and regulatory hurdles.
Carranza said accessing capital through financial institutions such as Land Bank of the Philippines remains extremely difficult for farmers, describing the process as even harder than passing ‘through the eye of a needle.’
He also urged the government to scale up extension services to align with potential market opportunities.