Apl.de.Ap turning coco farmers into rock stars

There’s a subtle hint of fruit and vegetable in the sound of Filipino-American rapper Apl.de.Ap’s stage name and his hip-hop group’s Black Eyed Peas (BEP). Pronounced “apple,” Apl is the initial of his name — Allan Pineda Lindo — while BEP refers to the yellowish bean with its dark hilum part regarded by the group as “food for the soul” besides being a common ingredient in traditional vegetable stew cooked in the Philippines.

There’s nothing strange about the foody influences on Apl.de.Ap and BEP’s names especially that he has his roots in Pampanga and farming before relocating to Los Angeles and turning into a successful recording artist.

“I used to help my grandfather tend to water buffaloes, and I used to go help him in the fields, and planting sweet potatoes, kamoteng kahoy (cassava), corn,” he said at the sidelines of the Climate Change Consciousness Week organized by the Climate Change Commission (CCC) in Palasyo de Maynila on 25 November.

CCC recognized Apl.de.Ap as a partner in climate action during the event as he and his team — OMTSE (Our Mission To Save Earth) has joined the Philippine Coconut Authority’s (PCA) campaign to plant 100 million coconut trees across the country.

The initiative to go back to his roots or agriculture started during the Covid-19 pandemic when BEP couldn’t perform on stage because of the lockdowns. He recalled learning about biochar that nourishes the soil and coconut husk waste which can turn into methane, one of the causes of global warming.

Apl.de.Ap joined the coconut tree planting activity of the PCA in Brooke’s Point, Palawan last month, part of pilot food farm being established there. He revealed that his next planting mission with PCA is in Cagayan de Oro where they will collaborate with indigenous people in creating their food farm.

Planting coconut trees will help remove carbon from the atmosphere, he said. Meanwhile, the food farm intercrops coconut trees and vegetables to preserve soil fertility while giving farmers extra income.

Soil degradation is a worldwide problem and Apl.de.Ap said he wants to help solve it starting in the Philippines.

“We want to protect our farmers and feed communities,” he added.

While the farmers are waiting for the coconuts to grow, they can make some money along the way through other crops, he explained.

Carbon credits earned through the millions of coconut trees planted will also go back mostly to the farmers.

“Farmers are rock stars and they should make more money,” the rapper said.

With Apl.de.Ap going nuts, sort of, he’s thinking of adding a remix of an old coconut song into BEP’s repertoire.