THE local coconut industry continues to suffer from declining yields and hybrids and other varieties need to be cultivated to revive the sector, the chief of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

'The Philippines needs to embark on increasing productivity through the cultivation of quality planting materials like [coconut] hybrids and varieties with superior traits,' Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said during the International Scientific Conference on Research and Development at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Laguna, on Monday.