MANILA, Philippines -- The company that makes the ubiquitous Mama Sita sauces and condiment mixes is in an expansion mode. This is the Marigold Manufacturing Corporation which recently held the groundbreaking for its new building that’s the equivalent of 10 storeys high but will have actually have five floors.

The building will house modern processing facilities that will enable the company to increase its present capacity four times, according to Kim Lapus, the chief operating officer of Marigold.

The company currently manufactures a wide variety of sauces and mixes that have become favorites in Filipino homes not only in the Philippines but also abroad.

Most of the mixes are currently in sachets in powder form, but soon new versions will be released to the market. These will be in the form of pastes rather than powder. These include Sinigang paste, Kare-kare paste, Menudo paste, etc. The advantage of the paste form is that the ingredients don’t easily volatilize so that they retain their intense flavor longer, according to Kim.

With the expansion of processing facilities, the company will require a lot more raw materials which are produced by cooperating farmers in different parts of the country.

Among the spice crops that they are currently processing are siling labuyo (the tiny ones because they have the best flavor), onion, garlic, gabi, black pepper, achuete, tomato, ginger, peanut and sour guava.

These are currently supplied mostly by small farmers who grow them in the provinces. However, some of the ingredients are sourced abroad because there are not enough available locally. For instance, most of the peanut is still imported from Georgia and India. They particularly like the variety with tiny seeds because it is the most flavorful. They use this in their kare-kare mix.

As much as possible, Kim said they would like to source their raw materials locally. Right now achuete is sourced locally at the rate of 10 tons a month. The requirement would increase four times when the new facilities will start operating in 1213.

The tiny Siling labuyo is what they need in big quantities. They are willing to offer a fixed price throughout the year so there is no fluctuation in prices even if there is a glut in production. They also need a lot of native guavas, the more sour the better.

Many of the raw materials that they use in their mixes are seasonal. With the expanded facilities, they will be able to maximize processing of the raw materials while they are plentiful. That way, they can be assured of steady volume of ingredients throughout the year.

According to Dr. Bart Lapus, chairman of Marigold Manufacturing Corp., the company will also venture into the processing of tomato ketchup and tomato paste. Prospective producers will be from Northern Luzon such as Pangasinan and surrounding provinces.

Gen. Fernando Manalo, Assistant Secretary of the Department National Defense, represented Sec. Voltaire Gazmin during the ground breaking. He announced that the army camps will be used for growing many of the raw materials that will be needed by Marigold.

When not fighting insurgents, the soldiers could grow achuete, ginger, native guava, gabi, black pepper, sour tamarind and other crops in the army camps where thousands of hectares are available for agricultural production.