The coconut, also known as "tree of life," is one of the Philippines most significant crops. Coconut farming has been an integral part of countrys economy. Despite the ranking as second largest producer of coconuts among Southeast Asian countries, it dropped drastically in quality of nuts produced. Thus, performing low on its competitive nature of market on a global scale. In October 2020, public and private stakeholders convened to strengthen coconut sector in the Philippines. Among the focus of discussion was the continuing low productivity of the coconut sector, which faces issues such as landlessness and poverty. According to the Philippine Coconut Authority Deputy Administrator, Roel Rosales, coconut trees in the Philippines produce an average of 44 coconuts every year. This is much lower than Indonesias production rate, generating around 17 million metric tons of coconuts each year (GrowAsia, 2022). 

Furthermore, according to the study of Gurbuz and Manaros, (2019) coconut farmers are currently the poorest people in agriculture, and they are far poorer than they were 30 years ago.  This can be attributed to the practice in marketing coconuts.

Coconut farming has also been a thriving industry in the province of Capiz. In August 2023, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) conducted a series of training on desiccated coconut processing, recognizing the potential having the Philippines as the worlds top exporter of desiccated coconut, followed by Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Every producer knows that marketing is just as crucial as production because it adds value to the product, generates income for the producer, and tells the producer whether or not to continue the production. To achieve their goals and expectations, producers rely on the state of the market and accounting for the resources on hand and exploring ways to most effectively use them based on projected demand (Kalimuthu et al., 2020). 

To increase coconut production and exports of raw and processed coconut products, researchers need to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the current state of coconut production, and assessment of barriers to increasing coconut production. Most studies on coconut farmers were focused on production like land tenure, pest control, quality of planting materials, and fluctuating global market prices for coconut-based products. This study differs from these studies since this focused on the supply chain as a whole and technology utilization, which is essential nowadays in farming and marketing.  Hence, this study assessed the status of production of coconut farmer-marketers and their challenges based on the Systems Theory of (Bertalanffy, 1969; Pinca et al., 2024).  to implement a deliverable and provide for sustainable production options. It provides a framework for promoting the sustainability of coconut production with the coconut farmers, marketers, processors, traders, and consu-mers, as well as the natural and physical environment, considering supply chain and the available technology to improve its agricultural practices. The interactions among these components are influenced by various factors, such as government policies, market trends, and technological advancements. 

This study determined the level of production capability and challenges encountered by the coconut farmers in the province of Capiz. It established whether there were significant differences in the production capability and challenges encountered by the coconut farmers when grouped according to profile. Additionally, it established if a significant relationship existed between the dependent and independent variables presented to gain insights towards enhancing the options available for coconut production.

This was a descriptive-correlational study. The researcher used quantitative data collected and analyzed them to find out if there was cause and effect relationship in the level of production capability and challenges encountered by coconut farmer-marketers in the province of Capiz. A descriptive research design, data collection, and data analysis methods were selected to determine the level of production capability and challenges faced by coconut farmer-marketers towards sustainable coconut production options available to coconut farmers. This study was conducted in the 13 municipalities in the province of Capiz with coconut farmers associations. The study included 382 respondents from a population of 8,690 coconut farmers in the province. They were identified through stratified proportional random sampling of associations represented in the study. This sample size was calculated using the Cochran formula. 

Data were gathered through a researcher-made survey questionnaire as research instrument, which was validated by six experts in the field of public administration and the coconut industry. Moreover, all statements and items were either retained, revised, or removed as recommended by the validators. The validated survey questionnaire was then reliability tested to 30 participants from the municipality of Panay, Capiz, not included in the actual survey. A reliability coefficient of 0.922 proved that the questionnaire was reliable and was conducted to the respondents. To analyze the data gathered, statistical tools, such as frequency, percentage, and mean were used as descriptive statistics. The researcher also employed Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Pearson are Moment Correlation as inferential and correlational statistics set at 0.05 alpha.

For this study, the questionnaire was translated to the local dialect for easy understanding of respondents with minimal education. It was reviewed by a psychometrician to ascertain that each statement or question was valid, will not harm the mental health of the respondents nor hurt their feelings. A consent form was made part of the questionnaire to ensure that participants privacy was not compromised and invaded without prior consent, guaranteeing that information they will give will be unidentified to anybody other than the researcher. They were also made to understand that the research may be read by future students of the course and other stakeholders of the university. They were also made to understand that they can refuse to answer the questionnaire and may stop answering anytime they feel no longer comfortable to do so. The researcher was personally there to answer queries or read to them the questionnaire if they are unable to do so.  The researcher made sure that all information received from them were acknowledged and accurately represented.  Data collected were at the custody of the research until no longer needed in this study. Although COVID-19 is no longer a threat, the researcher still encouraged the respondents, their association and barangay officials, the researcher and his assistant to use face mask and disinfect materials before and after using them.

Level of Production Capability of Coconut Farmers as a Whole

The production capability of the coconut farmers in the province of Capiz as a whole and in terms of supply chain and technology is reflected in Table 1 with 3.51 grand mean, having a “capable” verbal interpretation. Two production capability components showed that supply chain had a total mean of 3.69, while technology had a total mean of 3.32. Both components had verbal interpretations of “capable”, respectively. 

The result implies that the coconut farmers of the province of Capiz are capable in terms of supply chain and technology. They perceive themselves as capable because the government provided them with trainings, linkages with private and government agencies, and received financial assistance through their associations.  Likewise, the result also means that there is a big gap in becoming highly capable, which means that coconut farmer-marketers in Capiz need to do more to improve production and marketing of coconut products and not just focus on traditional market they used to supply. This infers that the respondents possess the capability to produce quality coconut farm products. This can also be understood that the coconut farmers believe that with the right amount of support and opportunities such as linkages with technology providers, good planting materials, and financial assistance to buy the right equipment they need, trainings in product development, designing, packaging and marketing strategies, they have the capability to increase production, compete in the market, and provide the market with coconut products to meet its current and future demands. Moreover, this also means that coconut farmers perceived themselves as having the capability to improve their performance if presented with the right technology to enhance coconut production and quality coconut products needed by the changing preference of the market, particularly in coconut oil and coconut sugar industry, which remains unexplored by coconut farmers in Capiz.

The research conducted by Javier, (2020) presented that the Philippines continues to hold the top spot in the world for coconut production. This presents an outstanding opportunity for local coconut farmers and marketers to discover new avenues for success and financial gain in this niche. He outlined several important avenues for modernization in which coconut farmers can get involved. These include mass replanting hybrids to increase the main coconut productivity itself; intercropping or rigorous, sustainable manifold canopy farming of coconut; optimizing coconut fruit and vegetative parts use by turning them to product variation like virgin coconut oil, coconut flour, bottled coconut water, and coconut sugar; and downstream integration with the production of oleo chemicals used in detergent and cosmetics as well as the production of copra meal as animal feed to assist the poultry and livestock sectors. Javier also made the point, though, that in order to increase their leverage and improve their position in the market, coconut farmers must turn away from issues related to production. It is imperative to build connections with food processors and integrate into the contemporary trade supply chain. 

The result of this study conformed to that of Hutapea and Siallagans, (2023). It was noted that inventory management is crucial in the coconut farming sector since it has a direct impact on sales and revenue. Storage plays a vital role in this administration. They suggested using technology to create a real-time system that would track demand trends and automate tasks like stock rotation, refilling, and recording, all of which are currently done by hand, in order to enhance managerial performance. Additionally, they discovered that the farmers technical and business abilities in running their coconut fields are lacking.

The study of Moreno et al. (2020) disagreed to the result of this study. They emphasized that farmers technical and entrepreneurial abilities in operating their coconut farms are lacking. They claimed that supply chains intended for coconuts in the Philippines are complex and multifaceted, extending from the location where they are produced to the nations domestic and international markets. Due to the supply chains restricted information flow to downstream channel players, such as traders who purchase coconut from farmers in copra form and set the price of coconut, producing high marketing costs, coconut farmers struggled to maximize production and marketing of coconut products.

Level of Challenges Encountered by the Coconut Farmers as a Whole

Coconut farmers in Capiz have faced with difficulties in producing and marketing their products. Table 2 presents the challenges encountered by coconut farmers in the province of Capiz with 3.28 grand mean and “moderately challenging” verbal interpretation. The three components of level of challenges had means ranging from 3.20 to 3.36, all of which were verbally interpreted as “moderately challenging”.  Technology advancement received the highest total mean (3.36), then market trends (3.28), and government policies (3.20) as the lowest mean of the three components. However, of the three components, they find technological advancement to be more challenging. The result can be implicated that coconut farmers of the province of Capiz faced moderate levels of difficulty in farming coconuts and selling products. This also conforms to the previously discussed result of this study on production capability, which technology also ranked the lowest. This result further implies that the coconut farmers perceived themselves as having low production capability because they experienced difficulties, especially in accessing, using, and possessing technologies that could increase the quality of their coconut produce. The findings supported the statement released by the Department of Agriculture (DA) Press Office, under Republic Act (RA) 11524 that in order to carry out the Coconut Farmers Industry Development Plan for the following five years, the government used an initial 75-billion-peso coconut levy. Ordoñez, (2023) of the Inquirer, however, reported that the billions in cash and assets of the coco levy fund, which could potentially aid the impoverished coconut farmers, were in danger of being misused. 

The result agreed to Castillo and Ani, (2019) that the countrys coconut farmers had not yet reaped the full benefits of the coconut levy money, despite evidence indicating that the revenue was utilized to actively support initiatives aimed at assisting the farmers.  In the same way, in their study, Gurbuz and Manaros, (2019) discovered that the coconut farmers experienced serious internal production issues, low and inconsistent prices for coconut products, a low and vast stretch of land connecting the farm to the market route, and intercropping.   

The coconut farmer-marketers perceive themselves to possess the capability, both in supply chain and technology, to continue producing coconut products, however, this level of capability is not enough to sustain the coconut industry in the province of Capiz as well as provide their families with income to support the daily needs of their household. The gap in their capability emanates from the ageing population of coconut farmers who lacks the adeptness to the fast changing technology driven production system, the lack of technical support and access to marketing to develop in demand products and financing for the acquisition of technology, high yielding planting materials and trainings to improve their skills and knowledge. 

Most of the coconut farmer marketers are older.  Moreover, the lack of technology application in both production and product development continue to cause low household income despite the long period of continued coconut farming. When government assistance to coconut farmers in terms of provision of high yielding coconut planting materials are not available and coconut farmers do not have funds to acquire this on their own, this causes them difficulty and the challenge is extended to delay in operation, low production, resulting to income and inability to address demand or comply with contracts to both supplier and market distribution channels. When this assistance is extended on time with additional support from the government in terms of linkages and trainings, operation is healthy, production is increased, income is augmented, and capability to grab market opportunities for new products is possible, thereby increasing income and expanding operations to support global marketing.

In the course of this research, the researcher would like to thank the Local Government Unit of Sara, Iloilo, the respondents, and the College of Management at Capiz State University-Main Campus, Roxas City, Capiz, for their essential support.

There is no conflicts of interest as declared by the author.