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Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Espinoza: Cluster farming
By Fred C. Espinoza
FIRST, let me greet our readers Happy Easter!
When the participants of the Fourth National Vegetable Congress meet in Davao City on April 26, they will advocate strongly for the adoption of “cluster farming as a means of supplying high quality vegetables to large markets.” I must say this new attitude can mean a rebirth of the Filipino entrepreneurial spirit among our poor tillers, so much so, that our economic managers at the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) had to cite the agriculture sector this early as one of the top growth drivers of the national economy until 2010.
In the past six months, we heard Baguio vegetable growers’ lament what they perceived as an attempt by big businessmen to flood the market with fresh vegetables from China mainland. In addition, the farmers were reportedly “up in arms” over “rampant” vegetable smuggling in the country which, they claim, threaten to drive them out of business.
But from what can be seen at the moment, it would seem that the Mindanao farmers will eventually make a turning point in the goals and aspirations of the ordinary farm worker in the immediate years ahead.
The first thing that will be taken up by the participants will be the impact of “good agricultural practices,” supply consolidation, strategic marketing, improved post harvest handling and logistics on increasing the market of Mindanao vegetables. Successful efforts in these areas—once implemented by a significant number of small farmers—might make Mindanao the vegetable basket of the Philippines and nearby Asian markets.
Dante Sarraga Jr., executive vice president of the Philippine Vegetable Industry Development Board (PVIDB), said the organization is working to persuade small farmers in Mindanao about the benefits of consolidation. PVIDB said joining forces allows small growers to supply larger volumes of high quality vegetables that meet international requirements.
What can be more significant to note at this point is that there is a determined move on the part of industry leaders in Mindanao to organize the vegetable growers in the region in their bid to occupy all six seats intended for them at the PVIDB. This way they can have a bigger voice in the mapping of the vegetable industry’s development, the report said.
Sarraga has realized that organizing vegetable growers enables them to supply not only big markets in Manila, but also nearby Asian countries, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong. “We are really aiming for these markets,” Sarraga told the Manila Standard yesterday.
He also said shipping vegetables from Northern Mindanao to Sandakan, Malaysia takes only a little more than a day. Conversely, sending a shipment from Northern Mindanao to Manila, takes 30 to 48 hours. Meanwhile, the cost of shipping to Sandakan is about half that of sending goods to Manila, he said.
The cluster scheme, formulated by the Department of Trade and Industry, is being implemented with the assistance of the Department of Agriculture and the US Agency for International Development’s Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program. GEM is being implemented under the oversight of the Mindanao Economic Development Council.
The advantage of Mindanao is that it has now two major vegetable growers’ groups—the Northern Mindanao Vegetable Producers Inc. (Normin Vegetable), of which Sarraga is a member and the Vegetable Industry Council of Southern Mindanao ( Vicsmino) Inc. In addition, two newly formed vegetable industry councils in Western Mindanao and Caraga region have recently begun operations.
Member-companies of Normin Vegetable ship lettuce, carrots, salad tomatoes and broccoli to institutional markets in Manila and other parts of Luzon as well as the Visayas. It appears that this solid organization is really growing by leaps and bounds.
According to reports last year, the shipping volume of semi-temperate vegetables generated by the regions “grew by more than 53 percent,” which translates into an annual total of 1,978 metric tons compared to 1, 290 metric tons in 2004. In the last quarter of 2003, the aggregate weekly average shipment was 17 metric tons. During the same period in 2004, the figure rose to 32 metric tons. It increased to 43 metric tons last year, the report said.
Agriculture, which accounts for about 19 percent of domestic output was forecast to grow by an average of four percent a year until 2010, due to modernization that was seen to boost productivity.
Meanwhile, the fishery sector was expected to be driven by aquaculture, partly due to strong demand for seaweeds across the globe where the Philippines stood as top exporter of carrageenan.
In rice farming, the rosier outlook was due to the increased planting of hybrid rice, a sustained growth of six percent by the fishery sector and strong external demand for high-value commercial crops.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 18, 2006 issue)
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