Nib it in the bud: Why PH cacao industry is ahead of the game
A value chain approach is necessary for agriculture to succeed. Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. is strongly advocating this approach for all subsectors.
One perfect example of this is the cacao industry.
When the purely private sector-led Philippine Cacao Industry Association (PCIA) started under the leadership of its president, Honorary Consul to Russia Armi Lopez-Garcia, an existing government advocacy was to plant cacao in an area meant for coconut trees spanning 2 million hectares.
PCIA cautioned this should be done only in areas where climate and soil conditions were appropriate. Aside from this, we have not used the correct production technology, leading to an average cacao plant yield of only 0.7 tons. To break even, a plant should produce 2 tons.
In addition, our drying and fermentation processing methods were suboptimal and often defective. These resulted in poor quality.
Lastly, our cacao is generally not packaged and marketed well. Three cacao congresses, beginning in 2022, are able to address these three critical parts of the value chain.
Production (2023)
The right soil and climate conditions for proper production had to be taught and emphasized. In addition, several different production technologies being propagated had to be reviewed to determine which had scientific basis.
Consequently, the public-private Philippine Cacao Industry Council or PCIC (chaired by the private sector and co-chaired by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry), together with PCIA, assembled cacao experts to examine the different production technologies.
They came out with a harmonized technical cacao production to guide growers on which technologies, specifically those with scientific basis, to use. An extensive training of trainers soon followed.
Processing (2023)
Even if production target yield is achieved, using defective drying and fermentation technology will still lead to poor quality output.
Christopher Fadriga is a model for us to follow. He won the gold medal in a worldwide global cacao competition, crediting this to the mentoring of world-famous cacao and chocolate expert Steven DeVries, whom he met online.
PCIA looked for DeVries and convinced him to help make the Philippine cacao industry a global winner. He taught us his winning drying and fermentation technology at an extremely low cost.
University of Southern Mindanao’s Edward Barlaan did an independent test of DeVries’ technology and found it to be indeed excellent.
PCIA, with the guidance of the DA’s Bureau of Plant Industry, later convinced DeVries and Barlaan to share this technology with 33 of our top food scientists from 26 state universities and colleges around the country. All of them vowed to work for our nation to produce the best quality fermented beans in the world.
To make this a reality, PCIA forged several agreements with various government agencies. Key behind all these efforts were the DA, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Philippine Coconut Authority.
Marketing (2024)
Finally, marketing (including packaging!) has to be addressed. PCIA now works with Philip Young, special assistant for export development to the Agriculture Secretary.
They are also working with the Department of Science and Technology’s Industrial Technology Development Institute on packaging, selling to the local market such as restaurants and fast food outlets, and marketing to the global market through foreign buyer representatives.
All this will be covered in the third National Cacao Congress to be held in Cebu City from July 30 t0 July 31. This will be open to all. For more details, contact PCIC-PCIA’s Mary Grace Cepillo (0945-5411501).
Cacao as a dream product is now being transformed into a profitable global winner by using this value chain approach. It is this approach that is necessary— not the usual production-centric way—for all our products if we are to achieve true agriculture development.
The author is Agriwatch chair, former secretary of presidential flagship programs and projects, and former undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry.
