Will the Beverage Competition Move to Coconuts?

by PED T. QUIAMJOT

ROYAL Agricultural Resources in Sayao, Pangadian City has been pioneering in sweet coconut propagation of the Thai Coconut variety for the last eight years. In a 24 hectares former fishpond clearings, entrepreneur, Rey Quisumbing, an Agricultural Engineering graduate of Xavier University has been farming thousands of fast fruit bearing coconut trees that he periodically harvest first for his roadside restaurant until the resorts and hotels in Zamboanga, Sibugay discovered the unique sweetness quality of the young coconut water.

Land commuters from Zamboanga City to Pangadian or Cagayan de Oro have made regular stops at his Sayao Farm along the national highway in Pangadian City to sample the freshness of his sweet water. Touted as a natural drink that helps tired bodies rehydrate, coconut water is hitting a growing number of followers in the Mindanao. A tiny fraction of the Philippines non alcoholic beverage production finds its market in the first class hotels and restaurants in Cebu and Manila up to the export market in Hongkong, Macau and Taiwan.

Coconut sweet water keeps the body cool and at the proper temperature. It threats kidney and urethral stones according to our old folks. Recent medical findings point to coco water as best cure in removing toxins from the body and helps in digestions and many other health benefits. A hotel in Cagayan de Oro City specializes in serving the Thai Coconut sweet water. It is not in the menu because it sells fast and the Bar always runs out of stocks and would have to order online from Pangadian City.

In high school, I remember my science teacher, described coconut as a tree of life. Perhaps due to its numerous benefits from the trunk to the leaves up to the fruits which finds its applications to our daily Filipino lives? I have not imagined that the lowly coconut water will generate multimillion commercial endorsements from celebrities, models and athletes drawing lawsuits over health claims from the established beverage companies.

Talking more about coconuts and its health potential products, the government under the PCGG has also been embroiled in a protracted struggle to recover millions of pesos allegedly stashed by a businessman from the coco levy funds owned by the farmers and invested in the brewery of beer. Whatever happens to the lawsuits, the coconut industry is set to take off into a beverage war with the other established soda drinks in the market which has gone flat over the issues of high blood and diabetes among the aging consumers.
In the US, Vita Coco ranks as the number one selling brand. Its revenue has doubled in 2011 to nearly USD 100 million, seven years after its founder Michael Kirban began deliveries of coco water in New York from the Caribbean and Pacific Islands.

During the 2011 trip of President Benigno S. Aquino to the US, one of his sales pitches was to entice coconut water investors to buy from the Philippines. Pepsi cola showed some interest to acquire a stake in the Philippine coconut industry. The other competing soda manufacturer, Coca cola believes that coconut water is more than a fad; it is the option to remain afloat by grabbing the second coconut water brand in the US, called Zico. According to Coca-Cola’s disclosures, their USD 15 million investment grew five folds last year.
In Cagayan de Oro City and elsewhere, we see vendors in the market place and narrow streets peddling the humble coconut water we call “Botong” we feel irritated to the hounding noise of the Karitons in our vicinities during our siesta time. We have not realized that the young fruits coming from the tree of life may eventually save lives.
Mr. Rey Quisumbing believes that the coco sweet water has the potential to become the choice drinks among Filipinos and our Asian neighbors. He developed a farming scheme to lease out unutilized private and government lands for coconut plantation. He claims that it would not poison or destroy the soil since he uses natural rock salt from the sea to fertilize his plantation.

When the multinational beverage companies start buying our coconut sweet water, all is not lost in coco farming; the aging trees have to be replaced with new fast growing seedlings. Dried coconuts have gone up in the market due to the acceptability of coconut oil as safe and anti oxidants. The Philippines coconut exports could also enjoy worldwide acceptance for oleo margarine oil.

Ped T. Quiamjot is one of the brilliant columnists of a local newspaper in Cagayan de Oro City and currently the General Manager of Pryce Plaza Hotel Cagayan de Oro. His column talks on various issues and concerns affecting the business sector and tourism industry.