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       Workers on a Philippines Coconut Farm: Born Poor, Staying Poor

       In the groves of the Philippine island of Mindanao, people living in rural areas struggle to feed themselves in the same way as their ancestors.

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       Diego Limbaro runs a copra cooperative in the Misamis Oriental province, providing farmers a way to pool their efforts. The group can’t afford to fix its truck, which has broken down. Credit...Jes Aznar for The New York Times

       By Peter S. Goodman

       Reporting from the island of Mindanao in the Philippines

       Dec. 30, 2023, 12:01 a.m. ET

       Like most of the those working in the coconut groves that fill out the northern lip of the Philippine island of Mindanao, Diego G. Limbaro has never imagined another life. His father pulled himself up the skinny tree trunks of the surrounding plantations, wielding a machete to detach coconuts. So did his father’s father.

       Such multigenerational experiences are typical throughout the Misamis Oriental province. Harvesting coconuts — separating the meat from the husk, and processing the bounty into oil and juice — is one of the very few ways to earn sustenance.

       People labor six days a week in the tropical swelter, through torrential rains and under the punishing sun. Their pay is determined by the price of coconut oil as influenced by traders around the globe. The typical farmer earns perhaps 60,000 pesos a year — about $1,100.

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       Peter S. Goodman is a reporter who covers the global economy. He writes about the intersection of economics and geopolitics, with particular emphasis on the consequences for people and their lives and livelihoods. More about Peter S. Goodman

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