MANILA (AFP) - Millions of Philippine coconut farmers face a growing crisis in their livelihoods, an official said on Tuesday, as their trees become too old to produce the fruit that is a mainstay of the country's exports.
More than 44 million coconut trees - 14 per cent of the national total - are past their most fertile age, and without a sufficient replanting programme the industry could be in trouble, warned Euclides Forbes, administrator of the official Philippine Coconut Authority.
He said the government does not have enough money to support the industry, on which 25 per cent of the population depends, and private planters are not doing enough.
'If the trees are not replaced, the fall in our coconut production will accelerate. In three to five years, we will not be able to meet export demand,' he told AFP.
