MANILA — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is ramping up efforts to expand the country’s oil palm industry, aiming to reduce imports, increase farmers’ incomes, and strengthen the domestic edible oil supply.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. said the agency plans to significantly increase funding for the sector in 2027 after this year’s proposed P1 billion allocation was reduced to P79 million. The DA is targeting a P1.2 billion budget next year to support fertilizer assistance, expand plantation areas, and improve farm productivity.

“Let’s invest where farmers earn,” Tiu Laurel said during a strategy meeting, describing palm oil development as part of a broader effort to align government spending with profitability data.

Oil palm yields average around 3.8 metric tons per hectare, compared with less than one metric ton per hectare for coconut. Because of this, palm oil farmers earn at least twice the roughly P90,000 annual income of coconut farmers, according to the DA.

Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) Administrator Dexter Buted said the agency is preparing to support industry development by producing planting materials locally.

“The PCA is planning to establish oil palm nurseries in selected areas in the Caraga region through the importation of germinated seeds under government-to-government arrangements,” Buted said, noting that the initiative is expected to lower the cost of imported planting materials.

Oil palm plantations currently span about 100,000 hectares nationwide, mostly in Mindanao. Despite increasing local production, the Philippines continues to import significant volumes of palm oil, resulting in a supply gap the DA seeks to address.

Mindanao is central to the expansion strategy. The department is considering the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, North Cotabato, as a site for reviving and scaling up a government-supported nursery, with disease-free planting materials to be sourced from Malaysia.

Tiu Laurel, however, acknowledged the need to improve sector data. “We need to fix the data to optimize our investment in this crop,” he said.

Nationwide, there are 11 palm oil mills and five refineries, including a P600 million facility in Sultan Kudarat supported by the Land Bank of the Philippines and the DA.

With rising demand for cooking oil and continued reliance on imports affecting the trade balance, the DA said it is positioning palm oil as a priority crop for expansion in the coming years.