Tanauan, Leyte (January 20) -- Two round table discussions among people's organizations and civil society, and the private will be conducted on two separate occasions at the municipality of Tanauan, and at Baybay City in February.

The first round table discussion will be conducted in Tanauan, Leyte on February 19 for the first second and third districts of Leyte. The round table discussion will be held at the Tanauan Municipal Hall.

The second round table discussion will be conducted at the Legislative Building of Baybay City on February 25 for the fourth and fifth districts of Leyte.

Tanauan Mayor Roque Tiu who is the President of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines Leyte Chapter said that during the recently held meeting of the League, ARD Joel Pilapil of the Philippine Coconut Authority informed about the round table discussion for the coconut sector.

The round table discussions will be conducted by PCA, with the help of Kaisampalad Inc., a non-government organization, Mayor Tiu said.

The round table discussions are being conducted in order to deliberate on the more concrete concerns of the coconut stakeholders at the ground level, and to develop strategies in add.

The round table discussion hopes to have as output a matrix outlining the specific challenges facing each sector in the coconut value chain of the province of Leyte.

Another output is a list of recommendations as to how the consolidated RCS and respective district plans addressing the challenges presented can be strengthened and actualized in the province of Leyte.

Finally, each round table discussion is expected to come up with a mechanism establishing a mutually beneficial relation of the respective stakeholders to one another.

All inputs gathered during the two round table discussions will be incorporated in the conduct of the First Leyte Coconut Congress in the month of March, 2009. (PIA 8)