What is Coconet?
Coconet is made from coconut coir fiber twine woven into high strength mats. It is becoming popular in shoreline stabilization because of its strength, ecological qualities and biodegradability. It is used as a soil erosion control device. Coconet readily absorbs water. It also builds up soil fertility and unbelievably replenishes lost essential nutrient in the soil.

What Arboleda did was he made the coconet more useful. He uses it to arrest soil runoff and promote re-greening by protecting vegetative shoots. He designed his own decorticating machine.

While Arboleda developed other uses for the different waste products of coconut in his coconut farm like doormats, stuffing for car seats and mattresses and fertilizer, it is coconet that prevents erosion that has garnered the most demand.

Erosion control nets, made from coconut husk fiber, are ideal for bioengineering. Logically, using Engineer Arboleda’s principle is more feasible since concrete is vulnerable to earthquakes, which means landslide will still be inevitable if an earthquake occurs.

The nets are not only more eco-friendly; they also cost less.

In bioengineering, plants are allowed to grow on bare slopes. Erosion control nets are used to prevent the slopes from eroding while the seedlings have not yet taken root. Nets from coconut fiber, unlike those made of synthetic materials, are strong, absorb water, and stick better to the ground surface, thus giving seedlings a better hold.

According to him, 12 to 13 billion pieces of coconut husks are turned out by the country each year but are mostly left to rot or burned as waste. Unknown to many, the products boast a wide range of commercial uses, from preventing soil erosion to helping plants grow lush.

Soon he was producing erosion control nets. He first sold his nets to clients in Japan and Germany. Later, developers like Ayala Land, Fil-Estate, Metro Pacific, and the Jaka group took notice.

His first government project, contracted with the Philippine National Oil Corp. in 1998, involved a six-hectare slope that was on the verge of collapsing over a geothermal plant in Leyte. An American company bid 20 million pesos for the project, but Juboken, Arboleda’s firm, bid six million pesos and bagged the contract. Obviously satisfied with the project results, PNOC remains a valued customer up to now.

The PNOC contract, Arboleda proudly says, provided additional income for around 800 families.

To produce the twine for the nets, Juboken buys husk from coconut farmers, who get all the money for themselves because the landlords generally do not find the husk of great value.

After the husk is processed, the fiber is turned over to farming villages, whose residents weave it into nets. A family can earn up to 200 to 300 pesos a day making the nets in between harvesting seasons – quite a big sum for a coconut farmer who earns an average income of 1,700 pesos a month.

The coconut tree’s trunk, on the other hand, can be used as coco lumber. Coco lumbers can be used as an alternative wall (aside from sawali and bamboo) for native houses. The house’s beam framework can be built using coco lumber. Precise lumber sizes are not required, because of the way native houses are constructed. When it is nailed to the frame, it is consistent even if the cutting is not too precise. One disadvantage of using coco lumber is its vulnerability to water, making it prone to rotting.

The bamboo leaves can be used as thatch like Anahaw and Cogon grass. The leaves are great for making broomsticks, too. The leaves are dried and shredded until the thin stick is left. Then the sticks are attached together until they are about 3 inches in diameter. A straw tied on the upper half holds each broomstick together.

The products the tree provides seem endless. About 30% of our country’s agricultural output is owed from the coconut. Most of the products it produces require tedious manual labor. With the onslaught of I.T in the Philippines, the sturdy and generous coconut tree has bowed to the concrete infrastructures and virtual industry. The tree that has funded the country’s advancements in science and technology is the same tree that is being neglected by those who used to climb it. 

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