Zac B. Sarian
The prospects and constraints of the cacao industry in the Philippines were threshed out during a recent workshop in a Quezon city hotel under the auspices of ACDI/VOCA, a nonprofit organization based in the United States which is implementing the Phase II of Success Alliance in the country. Success Alliance is focused on the development of the local cacao industry.
Among the constraints identified are the current low volume of cocoa beans produced in the country, the presence of cocoa pod borer (CPB), high cost of inputs such as fertilizers and chemical pesticides, lack of government support, low availability of quality planting materials, lack of training on organic farming, old unproductive cacao trees, and lack of information dissemination on the value of cocoa to the Philippine agriculture sector.
The participants recommended a number of steps that have to be taken to hasten the development of the industry. The participants recommended that a more aggresive information dissemination must be undertaken to motivate farmers to prioritize focus on cocoa farming. They also suggested that the Department of Agriculture should initiate or organize a "cocoa council" to encourage farmers to go into cacao production.
Third recommendation is the organization of the cocoa sector so as to make the program self-governing and self-reliant. The sector must link with the academe (universities) for cocoa research. Stakeholders must lobby for support from the local government units (LGUs), particularly the mayors, to support farmers in the form of policies, funding and other resources.
They also said that there should be continuous sharing of information on cocoa technology, market information during meetings, social gatherings, etc. There should be cross visits to demonstration farms where the best agricultural practices have been adopted, such as the Mars Cocoa Development Center (MCDC) in Malagos, Davao City.
The workshop was attended by 20 stakeholders and partners from Mindanao (Davao and Basilan), North Luzon, Palawan and manufacturers and traders from Davao and Manila.
The highlights of the workshop included presentation of the cocoa value chain data, maps and information collected by the value chain analysis (VCA) team and the team’s findings, including opportunities and constraints presented by Christopher Root, the VCA consultant. Nicholas Richards, ACDI/VOCA chief of party, presented the national cocoa roadmap showing the production targets by 2020.
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