CACAO industry players will implement a common agenda and roadmap to increase production and standardize quality on cacao beans and cacao-based products.
Valente Turtur, chair of the Cacao Industry Council and executive director of the Cacao Industry Development Association of Mindanao Inc. (Cidami), said this roadmap has been agreed and consulted by among all cacao players who attended the Kakao Konek 2015 or the National Cacao Congress last September 11 to 12 at the SMX Convention Center.
"This common agenda harmonizes standards for export-quality products and is essential for a sustainable cacao production," Turtur said.
"Cacao is an emerging crop in the country, as cacao players and cacao-concerned agencies sat down and discussed on ways of boosting the industry, we share common vision for the crop's sustainable production," Turtur said.
He also said that their move on pushing to create National Cacao Council or Philippine Cacao Board, a single institutionalized government agency to oversee the growing cacao industry in the country, will still be further discussed this October by the Cacao National Technical Working Group.
"We are still up to meet with the other members of the National Technical Working Group and see the possibility of creating the council," Turtur said, adding that there is a need to create such because at present no single government office is tasked to focus on cacao.
Once created, the council will be composed of the cacao industry players and officials from different government agencies like Department of Agriculture, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Philippine Coconut Authority, among others.
Meanwhile, the Mindanao Development Authority initiated a program dubbed as "Cacao Double-Up" program targeting around 200,000 metric tons of cacao production in 2020, with a total of 100 million the cacao seedling to be planted and be intercropped with the coconut trees.
"This will help the farmers because if it (cacao) will be intercropped with the coconuts, the income will be doubled or even tripled," Turtur said.
With the projected global shortage of about one million MT in 2017, the Philippine Cacao industry is targeting to contribute 10 percent to fill the shortage by 2020.
The industry now generates some 12,000 to 14,000 metric tons since 2011, a 14 percent completion of its 100,000 metric tons original target for 2020.
At present, the country has 23,000 hectares of cacao producing area, 21,000 hectares of which are in Mindanao. Davao City has a total of 6,000 ha. dedicated to cacao with around 16,000 farmers.