THE Philippines is in a very good position to be a major supplier of coco oil and coco water in the global market but the country can seize this opportunity only if the government will use its available resources to help coconut farmers maximize their yield, according to Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero.

Escudero said that the government can utilize the P52-billion coco levy fund to boost the coconut sector and its farmers. The amount comes from a 24-percent block of shares in San Miguel Corp. that was part of about 47 percent of shares sequestered by the government on suspicion that these were acquired using coco levy funds.

The senator is hoping that Malacañang would mobilize the funds at the soonest possible time so that the country can to take advantage of the high demand for coconut products in the international market.

“The funds are there. But the government has not yet determined how these will be spent and, more important, how these can benefit the country’s coconut farmers,” Escudero said.

The Philippines has about 12 million hectares of farmlands, with three million hectares devoted to coconut.

Of the 79 provinces in the country, 68 are considered coconut areas.

Earlier, Escudero asked the government to include copra farmers in the conditional cash transfer program for 2013 to help them cope with declining price of copra.

He called on the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Social Welfare and Development to come up with a program that would somehow provide assistance to farmers.

The Philippines used to be the top coconut exporter in Southeast Asia, but the country has been overtaken by Indonesia.