Transforming the coconut industry : institutional and policy reforms toward shared development /
by Jose V. Romero Jr.
- Manila : University of Asia and the Pacific, 2005.
- xvi, 216 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm.
Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Asia and the Pacific.
Includes bibliographical references.
JOSE V. ROMERO, JR. University of Asia and the Pacific. May 2005. Transforming The Coconut Industry: Institutional and Policy Reforms Toward Shared Development. Thesis Adviser: Dr. Bernardo A. Villegas
The study used policy research to trace the causal relationship between the policy interventions in the seventies and early eighties and the influence of the industry players in the formulation of these policies. The COCOFED/crony capitalists’ influence on policies agricultural policy (i.e., policies related to programs designed to increase productivity and improve farm technology, e.g., hybridization (Bugsuk project), monocropping, intercropping, etc).; industrial Policy (ie., programs geared toward value adding and forward integration (e.g. UNICOM); financial policy (i.e., financial structuring of the industry (e.g. UCPB, CIIF); fiscal policy (i.e., the incidence of coconut levies and tariffs and their impact on coconut farmer income; and commercial policy (ie., the effect of trade policies on the industry (e.g. export ban, UNICOM monopoly). The study also used nominal protection rates to determine the economic impact of the coconut levies.
The results of the study showed that through the undue influence of the COCOFED/crony capitalists, the Marcos government embarked on a vertical integration program which systematized the development of the coconut industry through the integration of different aspects from production and processing to exportation. This allowed the group to reap the benefit from processed production which commanded a better price in the world market.