Reviving the Integrated Coconut Industry Part 7: Production Integration of VCO, Nata de Coco, and Shell Charcoal

Basically the campaign to save the coconut plantation (tree of life) is to revive the integrated coconut industry. Damaged and not maintained of coconut plantations due to lack of funding to maintain and develop it in a sustainable manner.

Bioeconomy is defined as knowledge-based production and uses biological resources or living things to produce products, processes, and services in the economic sector within the framework of a sustainable economic system.

One of the fundamental questions about the integrated coconut industry is why should the coconut business be made in an integrated manner? Why not just process one part of the coconut? In almost all regions coconut is sold in the form of whole coconut without coir. When the raw material is whole coconut, all parts can be processed and become various products. And when only processing one part of coconut as an example of a shell for the production of charcoal and coconut water for the production of nata de coco, then that means only taking waste or byproducts from processing or utilizing the main coconut which in general is coconut meat. This condition is very dependent on the processing or main utilization of the coconut fruit. The same thing is similar to the biomass processing industry such as wood pellets and briquettes originating from sawmill waste or the wood industry. And when all parts of the coconut can be processed, it will be more economical and efficient and no waste will be produced. The combination of these types of coconut processing also determines the level of efficiency and economical production. The efficient use of energy is one of the keys to its success. So if the combination of coconut processing can make energy use efficient, so that the use of external energy can be reduced or even eliminated, then that is the best condition sought.

VCO is quite well known and popular among the people of Indonesia. Some time ago this product exploded in the market and many small industries have sprung up to produce it. Unfortunately this trend only lasted a short time. With the decline in the demand for VCO in the country quite a lot of these producers who close their businesses and switch to other professions. VCO has the main content in the form of lauric acid, which is a medium chain fatty acid (MCFA: Medium Chain Fatty Acid) that has many health benefits. Consuming VCO will also provide instant energy addition, and not be stockpiled in the form of fat. For more clearly read here. Besides being in VCO, lauric acid is also found in palm kernel oil (PKO) and mother breast milk. Palm kernel oil mills (PKO mills or KCP: kernel crushing plants) are not as many as palm oil mills (CPO mills). Many CPO mills do not have kernel processing (KCP) or the palm kernel.

Palm kernel oil (PKO) is also commonly called lauric oil and is a competitor for VCO. This is also the case among competing palm cooking oils and coconut cooking oils. Some parties may be more interested in VCO because it comes from coconuts, whereas PKO comes from palm oil and is currently undergoing a bad campaign from Europe, although this could be part of a trade war. Coconut oil from copra has also experienced the same thing. Indonesia, which has historically been the largest producer of copra, has subsequently its coconut industry been destroyed due to a trade war with soybean oil in the United States.

As for the export market, besides requiring better specifications or quality, it is also generally required to be accompanied by organic certification. Organic certification is something that is not easy especially for small businesses. Information from the APCC (Asia Pacific Coconut Community) that the Philippines is the largest producer of VCO at present even though the area of coconut plantations is still below Indonesia with export volumes continuing to grow. It was noted that the Philippines' VCO exports in 2006 were 461 tons, then nine years later, in 2015 it increased to 36.3 thousand tons. The coconut industry in the Philippines is also more developed than in Indonesia, this is evident from the many export commodities from coconut products. The Philippines exports 30 kinds of coconut products while Indonesia only has 14 kinds of products.

The combination of integrated coconut processing that can be combined with VCO production is the production of nata de coco and coconut shell charcoal. VCO production can be done on a medium scale so that the coconut shell produced is also not so much that the production of charcoal with carbonized furnace in batch is sufficient. The heat lost or wasted from the carbonization process can then be taken again and used to cook coconut water in the production of nata de coco. In addition, if the nata de coco is sold in ready-to-consume form, the nata de coco needs to be cooked at least 3 times so that it becomes soft and clean. Cooking can also use waste heat from the carbonization process. The production of nata de coco will be competitive and more profitable because it does not need to use external thermal energy such as LPG.