TACLOBAN CITY – Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) production in Tanauan, Leyte is now “meeting the expectations” while empowering women at the same time.

Olive Tiu, president of the newly-formed Eastern Visayas Virgin Coconut Oil Producers (EVVCOP), said they now have two VCO processing machines, the first in the region so far.

Tiu told Leyte Samar Daily Express that the VCO processing in Tanauan is manned by 54 workers, all women.

They represent the 54 barangays of the said municipality. But the group had only 33 core-group members when they started as a small cooperative then, Tiu said.

From the initial capital of P165, 000, which all came from contributions of the members, the group was able to buy two processors and ordered a filtration machine which is able to filter 30-40 liters of VCO per hour.

“We are planning also to buy an expeller fro the improvement of our production,” Tiu disclosed.

According to Tiu, some of their members are earning more than what some government employees do.

She said one of their members is bale to process 20 pieces of coconut per s\day and she is able to get 1.5 liters of VCO and profit not less than P680 per day.

“This is how enticing the production of VCO is,” Tiu hinted.

The fact that these women-members are earning enough, the husbands would also visit the processing plant and help their wives to process more coconuts.

Tiu revealed that to Express that VCO has a lot of potential market. “We should strike the iron while it is hot,” she added.

“We’re starting to get big demands from China, United States, and others,” Tiu disclosed.

“I have communicated with four exporters already in Manila, and in fact, one friend from India is already waiting fro sample,” she said.

But Tiu called on the help of other sectors to help them promote VCO in Eastern Visayas because according to her, “we cannot do it alone”.

Right now, the plant in Tanauan can only process up to 500 coconuts per day for the reason that they don’t want to overwork their machines”.

“We have found the market but Tanauan cannot provide all the demand. We are encouraging at least one producer in each province to join us,” Tiu pointed out.

However, the plant in Tanauan has no laboratory yet to check the quality of their products, the reason why they are coordinating with government agencies such as DOST, PCA, DTI, TESDA, DOH and BFAD.

For her part, Tiu is confident that they can compete with other VCO producing regions with the fact that Eastern Visayas is one of the country’s primary coconut producer.