7 foreign firms interested in buying Davao cocoa beans

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

AT LEAST seven foreign companies have signified interest in buying all locally produced cocoa beans in the entire Davao Region.

There's just one problem. There's not just enough supply to meet the total requirements of these firms.

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Melanie Provido, Department of Agriculture (DA) regional coordinator for high-value commercial crops, said a group of firms from China and Singapore came to visit the region in search for high quality cocoa beans in September of last year.

"Among gilibot ang tibuok cooperatives nga anaa sa Mati (We visited all the cooperatives that are situated in Mati)," Provido said.

"The taste of the cocoa beans is good for chocolate-making," Proviso quoted a representative from one of the foreign firms as saying.

Because of this, Provido had encouraged local farmers to invest in cacao farming because aside from its high quality, the region's overall production is not yet enough to cater to these foreign firms.

Provido identified these foreign companies as ADM Cocoa Pte Ltd., Agrohub Commodities Pte Ltd., Armajaro KL., Barry Callebaut, Guan Chong, JB Cocoa and Petra Foods.

The DA official added that even European firms have shown interest on the kind of cocoa beans being produced in the region.

Right now, DA-Davao Region is intending to help local farmers in terms of marketing since the collaborations between the farmers with private firms have already ended.

"Sa karon wala nay collaboration (At present, there are no more collaborations) because our farmers are already strengthened in terms of production," Provido said.

Meanwhile, part of the efforts of the agriculture department is to alleviate poverty in rural areas by increasing cacao production through integration of farming methods like intercropping with coconuts.

Based on DA-Davao Region record, the Philippines has around 3 million hectares of coconut lands, of which 2.4 million hectares are mono-cropped lands.

At present, a budget of P3.10 million has been requested by DA-Davao Region for its high-value commercial crops program.

The funding will be used to buy 20 units of shredding machine amounting to P1 million, rehabilitation and construction of 20 sites at P1.4 million and the publication of the PNS-Cacao beans at P700,000 to promote the prducts.

High quality product is a result of a combination of good production and post-harvest practices, according to Provido.