Coconut, the tree of life, breathes life to another product. Relatively unknown to many, coconut sugar or coco sugar offers consumers-slash-health buffs another “sweet” alternative to table sugar.
The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA)-Davao Research Center discovered that sugar could be made from the coconut juice (sap) or toddy. Prior to this discovery, the sap was traditionally made into alcohol drinks, “tuba” and “lambanog”, or as vinegar. Unlike any other sweetener, coco sugar possesses low glycemic index, which makes it ideal for diabetic and hypoglycemic people. It also contains a number of amino acids and vitamins; and is very rich in minerals.
Sweet smell of success
Southern Mindanao Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium’s (SMARRDEC) Magsasaka Siyentista (MS) Ben Lao has long recognized the business potentials of coco sugar.
After doing extensive research, he started his own coco sugar production and in 2008, launched Donna Belle Coco Sugar.
For the past two years, Donna Belle has been supplying tin the United States, Europe, and Canada.
The company is also working on its Halal (permissible or lawful products to use or consume according to the Islamic law) certification. The certification will open doors to the Muslim market therefore gaining a significant market share in the coco sugar industry.
More sugar, please
Currently, Lao is developing new products using coco sugar as staple ingredient. Some of these are ginger brew, banana chips, coconut polvoron, coconut balls, lemon grass tea, and other products.
Through PCARRD’s TechnoMart, Lao has identified the gaps in and interventions for his coco sugar business during a SMARRDEC-hosted workshop on value chain analysis held recently at the University of South Eastern Philippines in Davao City.
Incidentally, TechnoMart is one the components of PCARRD’s Pinoy S&T (science and technology) Services. The program aims to bring S&T-based products from the farm to the market; from building productivity to enhancing profitability of a product.
Specifically, the program has been supporting Donna Belle through its services on value adding, business market matching, and information technology. TechnoMart’s next intervention for the company is assistance in development of the Coco Belle website, attendance to training on Good Management Practices, and other forms of support.
This is just the beginning for the two-year-old product. With Lao’s natural entrepreneurial skills and creativity, backed up with technology and business support from agencies like the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry, SMARRDEC, and PCARRD, the promise that holds for coco sugar is definitely oh-so-sweet. As the song goes, “Sweet dreams are made of these….”