Meet the Pioneer Coco Sugar Maker

By ZAC SARIAN

October 13, 2010, 6:38pm

MANILA, Philippines – At the coconut festival which was held recently at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City, we met the lady who pioneered in making coconut sugar in the Philippines.

She is  47-year-old Luisa Molo of Brgy. Linabo, Balingasag, Misamis Oriental. She is just like any other ordinary lady farmer but the difference is that she is receptive to improved technologies in farming. In 2000, she was a participant in a project called Cogent which was undertaken by the Philippine Coconut Administration and an international agency in which they demonstrated various ways of improving the income of coconut farmers.

One of the technologies that were taught was how to make coconut sugar out of the toddy or “tuba” that is derived from the unopened flowers of the coconut. And the first to commercialize coconut sugar, even in a limited way, was Luisa Molo. There are now several others who are making coconut sugar but Luisa is always referred to as the pioneer.

Luisa was the first to display her coco sugar in trade fairs in Manila which elicited interest from foreign buyers. There is interest in coconut sugar here and abroad because healthwise, it is claimed to be superior to the sugar from sugarcane. It is recommended for use by diabetics. Coco sugar is also considered organic sugar, that is why it can command a much higher price than cane sugar. In fact, Luisa sells her coconut sugar right in Mindanao at P200 per kilo whereas the ordinary sugar retails at only a little more than P50 per kilo.

Luisa has shown and continues to show that even with a small coconut farm, one can derive a comfortable income by specializing in a high-value product that has a big demand. She has a two-hectare farm in Brgy. Linabo in Balingasag, but only 7,500 square meters is devoted to coconut where her workers harvest toddy. She says she has three gatherers, each collecting 8 gallons of toddy every day from 90 trees that are about ten years old. Usually, 20 flowers yield a gallon of toddy. The daily harvest of 24 gallons of toddy translates to 12 kilos of coco sugar worth P2,400. She says that two gallons of toddy make a kilo of sugar.

Source: Manila Bulletin