Coconut emblem and coat of arms. Coconut trees are grown on all the islands. Before modern construction methods were introduced, coconut leaves were used as roofing material for many houses in the islands, while coconut timber was used to build houses and boats. The main coconut-producing area in the Middle East is the Dhofar region of Oman, but they can be grown all along the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and Red Sea coasts, because these seas are tropical and provide enough humidity (through seawater evaporation) for coconut trees to grow. The young coconut plants need to be nursed and irrigated with
Coconut production in the Philippines metric tonnes of copra, coconut oil, copra meal, desiccated coconut, coco shell charcoal, activated carbon and coco chemicals, a 1.49 per cent increase compared to the volume exported in 2011. In 1989, it produced 11.8 million tonnes and at the time was the second largest producer but has since surpassed Indonesia. In 1989, coconut products, coconut oil, copra (dried coconut), and desiccated coconut accounted for approximately 6.7 percent of Philippine exports. About 25 percent of cultivated land was planted with coconut trees, and it is estimated that between 25 percent and 33 percent of the population was at least partly