Some 19.8 million coconut trees were damaged in Leyte alone during the onslaught of super typhoon Yolanda, according to data from the Philippine Coconut Authority. Related losses were pegged at Php 10.4 billion.
Local coconut farmers know that they are in for a long wait for the next harvest season. It will take six to 10 years before new trees can produce coconuts. In the meantime, they ask, how will they make ends meet?
Crispin Alvarado, a coconut farmer in Palo town, knows this reality all too well.
As a leader of local farmer organizations, Alvarado added his voice to the clamor for concrete steps to help farmers resume their livelihood.
Several international organizations, apparently heeding such calls, have shifted their support from providing relief to activities such as clearing operations in farm production areas.
Despite Yolanda's destructive rage, Crispin considers the tragedy a blessing in disguise.
He believes the typhoon paved the way for the redesign of the Eastern Visayan region's agricultural sector. Tracts of farmlands have been planted with both coconut trees and high-yielding crops, providing alternative livelihood to farmers who had solely depended on coconuts.