Another fellow Pinoy is in the limelight!
Dr. Justino Arboleda, an agricultural engineer from Bicol and a former dean of the Bicol University College, is featured in The World Challenge for his research and work on various uses for the coconut husk. Until then, there was little commercial use for the coconut husk (the lowly "bunot" that many people use to scrub their wooden floors clean and shiny). Coconut husk was just a by-product of copra and coconut oil production, about 12 to 13 billion pieces each year, which are mostly left to rot or burned as waste.
With Dr. Arboleda's research, various uses for the coconut husk were developed, such as mats, foam substitute, cocopeat (artificial soil) and coconet. The COCONET developed by Dr. Arboleda became hugely popular as a soil erosion control device in Japan and Germany before Philippine real estate developers took notice of it. Aside the the development of new products, coconet production also helped impoverished families of coconut farmers, who used to earn only 1,700 pesos a month from copra production, by providing them additional income from the sale of coconut husks and from coconet production.
The World Challenge is a competition aimed at finding individuals or groups from around the world who have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level. This competition is all about finding entrepreneurs whose projects are making a difference to communities. The World Challenge is all about global involvement, casting a net for ideas from individuals or groups deserving recognition. In the process they also hope to inspire would-be entrepreneurs.
Dr. Arboleda's Coconet Project is one of the twelve nominees in the competition. The winning project will receive a US$20,000.00 grant to benefit it.
To support Dr. Arboleda and vote for his Coconet project, click here.
Related Link: The Wonders of Coco Husk
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