Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 22 ISSUE 3
Written by Virgelio C. DARGANTES JR., Milagros C. BALES, Leomarich F. CASINILLO

Participatory Coconut Planting Project (PCPP) is one of the programs implemented by the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) that aims to achieve the increasing productivity and income of coconut farmers. The study was conducted to find out the level of involvement of 145 coconut farmers, from the three selected municipalities of Northwestern Leyte, in the PCPP and determine the factors that influenced their participation. Descriptive statistics like percentages, frequency counts, means, and ranges were employed. Moreover, regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the socio-demographic/economic characteristics and other factors that influenced farmers' involvement in PCPP. Findings revealed that most of the respondents were middle-aged, males, and married. They had low educational levels and annual income and the majority of them did not attend pieces of training. They were land owners cultivating an average area of 1.5 hectares. Moreover, the majority of the respondents had fully taken part in the overall activities of PCPP which indicates genuine participation. Factors that have a high level of significance to the level of involvement were the following: educational attainment, number of training attended, benefit satisfaction, and perceived satisfaction towards the project. Other significantly related factors were sex, age, benefits awareness, and effectiveness of the Coconut Development Officer (CDO) in the delivery of services. Apparently, the most common problem encountered by the farmers was coconut pest infestation. Hence, regular monitoring from the CDO staff and provision by PCA of sufficient pesticides to control infestations are hoped to prove the productivity of coconut farms.

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