RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE 45TH APCC COCOTECH MEETING

A Committee composed of all Heads of Country Delegations in APCC member countries and chaired by the APCC Executive Director formulated the recommendations after deliberating on the issues raised in the technical presentations and question and answer sessions:

A.                Policy Recommendations for APCC Member Countries:

1a. Recognizing the relevance of the theme of the 45^th APCC COCOTECH Meeting, the delegates re-affirm the importance of putting the small coconut farmers and farm workers in the center of sustainable development efforts. The meeting recommends that genuine inclusive economic growth and sustainable development should include policies and programs whose benefits must be justly shared by the small coconut farmers who are at the bottom of the pyramid.

1b. The meeting further recommends that the APCC member states adopt enabling polocies to promote the cluster approach and the formation of Coconut Produces Societies (CPS) following the Indian model to facilitate community development, capacity building, and provide for an efficient mechanism for technical and logistical support and enhance entrepreneurship and viable coconut-based economic ventures.

2a. Recognizing the stagnant if not decreasing productivity of coconut farms, the meeting recommends that in order to increase coconut farm productivity, the National Governments of the APCC member states must support and provide appropriate budget for a National Coconut Replanting/Rejuvenation Program including intercropping, product diversification and value addition with provisions for technical assistance and capacity building.

2b. The meeting further recommends that the Communiqué issued by the XLVIII APCC Session/Ministerial Meeting in December 2011 in Honiara, Solomon Islands be widely circulated to create more awareness, greater advocacy and to gain a critical mass of support from political leaders, policy makers, investors, farmers and other stakeholders including international donor agencies on the need to accelerate the coconut replanting and rejuvenation program in all APCC member states.

3. Recognizing the technological developments in coconut crop improvement through hybridization and proper selection, the meeting recommends that the APCC member countries in collaboration with Bioversity/COGENT adopt a scheme for the efficient and effective exchange of germplasm sufficient enough to enable multi portion to support the coconut replanting and rejuvenation programs in the respective countries.

4a  Recognizing the value of the “advocacy marketing model” as practiced by various coconut product manufacturers in the member states and abroad, the meeting re-affirms the need for more substantive science-based evidence to support our claims on the health benefits of coconut oil.

4b. While appreciating the achievements made by some APCC member states like India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, the meeting also reiterates previous recommendations on the need for national policy directions and provisions for appropriate budget to support national medical/nutritional researches and/or clinical trials on coconut oil. Multi-country clinical trials may likewise be pursued by the APCC Secretariat in collaboration with reputable medical research institutions/universities and interested stakeholders including private companies in the APCC member states, USA, Australia and Europe.

5.   The meeting recommends that APCC Session/Ministerial Meeting review and evaluate the possibilities of strengthening the APCC as an intergovernmental organization. On this regard, the meeting further recommends that the APCC Session/Ministerial Meeting may consider a policy to allow associate membership of interest groups/companies to facilitate synergistic collaboration on technical, financial, and other resources to enable the conduct of appropriate clinical trials in the importing countries and create a scientific advocacy group to promote coconut as a health food.

6. Recognizing the importance of private-led growth, the meeting recommends that the APCC member states adopt policies that will promote public-private partnership in areas such as the production of hybrid seednuts for the massive replanting /  rejuvenation programme and complements the efforts of the government.

B.                 Recommendations for Program / Project Formulation by the APCC Secretariat:

1a. Recognizing the shifting consumer demands as influenced by health and wellness concerns of the majority of buyers in the world market, the meeting recommends that the APCC continue to pursue generic promotional campaigns and trade exhibitions in the member states and abroad to promote market expansion and further in-roads of coconut products in the mainstream market in the USA, Europe and other major market destinations.

The marketing platform may include coconut products as a health food, a super food which can be certified as organic and following fair trade practices. Other coconut products such as coir fibre and coir-based products like coco peat, geotextile, coconut shell charcoal-based activated carbon may be featured as environment-friendly with very low carbon footprint.

1b. The meeting also recommends to pursue the strategies towards collaborative competition in the marketing of coconut products and explore further the mutual benefits of Free Trade Agreements (FTA) between and among APCC member states especially for new and emerging coconut products. .

1c. The meeting likewise recommends that the APCC should facilitate the conduct of Business Forums/Roundtable Meetings among coconut product processors, exporters/traders and buyers to address current issues.

2. To address the impact of climate change, the meeting recommends that the APCC pursue projects that will demonstrate how coconut farmers can mitigate, adopt and cope with the effects of extreme variabilities in the environment and address poverty reduction, economic livelihood, food security and additional farm family income. This may includes collaborative research on resistant varieties, integrated pest management, exchange of bio-control agents, carbon sequestration studies in coconut and how to avail of carbon credits, and other technology needs.
3. Recognizing the need for technology sharing and capacity building, the meeting recommends that the APCC Secretariat design, organize and facilitate practical human resource development programs for training of trainors and other stakeholders in the APCC member states. These training programs must be based on the needs of the member states especially in areas relating to good manufacturing practices (GMP) in coconut product processing and value-addition, pest and disease control, good agricultural practices (GAP), and others. Capacity building programs may also include study-tours and exchange visits in areas of interest between and among the APCC member states.
4. Recognizing the value of coconut related information and the need for efficient technology transfer of newly developed technologies, new research outputs and up-to-date data and statistics on prices including the market outlook and price forecasting models, productivity levels, export volumes and supplies of various coconut products, the meeting recommends that the APCC Secretariat continue to publish these information through Newsletters, R & D Journals, Posters, Brochures, Technical Bulletins, Statistical Yearbooks, Trade Directories and others. Relevant information may also be included in the APCC website and updated regularly.
5. To address the needs of the Pacific coconut growing countries, the meeting recommends that the APCC collaborates closely with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) to conduct market surveys an evaluate the economic potential of various coconut products including VCO, coconut flour, coir and coir-based products, coconut sugar, coconut shell charcoal (CSC) and CSC-based activated carbon, coconut water and others.