The Department of Agriculture has imposed an indefinite ban on the export of fresh ube to protect our planting materials amid booming global demand. It may have been too late or not enough.
An export ban only prevents physical tubers from leaving the country. It does not stop other countries from growing purple yams, branding them under Philippine heritage names and selling them globally.
Apparently, the DA should have prioritized securing a Geographical Indication (GI) registry which is absolutely vital. Once registered internationally via the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), it becomes illegal for any other country to market ube under that specific heritage name.
Without the registration, the export ban on fresh planting materials cannot stop foreign competitors from hijacking the premium identity of Philippine ube varieties.
The threat is immediate. Vietnam already possesses highly advanced laboratory protocols for the mass propagation of purple yam via tissue culture.
Vietnam is already aggressively exporting massive volumes of frozen purple yam to feed the international dessert fad. Even our food processors are buying from them because we have a domestic supply shortage.
The Vietnamese variety, however, lacks the natural sweetness, texture and aroma of true Philippine ube. Food processors using Vietnamese yams rely on heavy amounts of artificial ube extract, coconut milk, and sugar to mimic the iconic profile of Filipino ube.
But if you are running a commercial operation that produces mass-scale items like bubble tea powders or commercial ice creams, Vietnamese purple yam is a good substitute.
If the registration process is so important, why didn’t the DA do it years ago? The answer is familiar to us… bureaucratic stalemate.
I understand that during the Duterte administration, the DOST and DA secretaries couldn’t agree on how to approach the requirements for registration. So, nothing happened.
The Bohol provincial government took matters into its own hands and officially filed for a GI registration for Ube Kinampay. This will explicitly and legally link Kinampay’s distinct aromatic properties and vibrant violet flesh to Bohol’s unique limestone soil, climate and traditional farming.
But DOST and DA must still work together for a successful registration that will make our ube claims internationally defensible.
DOST must work on genetic fingerprinting and traceability by conducting DNA barcoding on varieties like Kinampay. This establishes an irrefutable chemical and scientific foundation proving these exact ube varieties originated from and are endemic to the Philippines.
DA must work on GIS Agrometeorological Mapping by using Geographic Information Systems to map out the strict geographical zones (soil composition, rainfall, elevation) where these premium crops grow. This creates the “Manual of Specifications” required to legally defend a GI boundary.
But if we fail to scale up our own production (which is likely) while ignoring GI tags, we risk watching Vietnam and Thailand dominate the global market using the very ube identities that rightfully belong to the Philippines.
Beyond GI registration our government must also help our ube farmers. BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions, noted that our government “so far lacks any further financial incentives for farmers to switch to growing ube on their limited farmland, deterring any meaningful increase in domestic supply.”
Because it takes up to a year for a single ube crop to mature, many local farmers lack the financial means to plant it.
BMI warns that the “prolonged supply constraints, slower-than-expected expansion of domestic cultivation capacity or the emergence of substitute ingredients could limit ube’s ability to sustain its current growth trajectory and transition from a trending flavor into a permanently established global food category.”
BMI observed that “ube’s global rise is no longer merely an emerging consumer trend but an increasingly important agricultural and commercial opportunity that producers are now racing to support.”
In other words, there is a big opportunity to earn export dollars from ube that we are likely to miss, as usual.
Same story for mango. While traveling in California, I was intrigued by mangoes being sold in groceries as Manila mangoes but they were nothing like our mangoes. I am told that they were really from Mexico but Manila mangoes make it sound more premium.
So, it is good to hear that the Guimaras mango is now protected by a GI registration, the first in the Philippines.
Only fresh mangoes grown by accredited farmers on the island province of Guimaras can legally carry the official “Guimaras Mango” name.
Backed by its new GI seal, Guimaras successfully shipped its first test shipments to Europe.
Then there is cacao. Because we are located within the equatorial “Cacao Belt,” with the optimal climate, rainfall and volcanic soil required to produce world-class cocoa, we should aim to become a major international exporter. But we remain a net importer of cocoa products.
Our cacao products have received world recognition for premium quality. For cacao to transition from a “promising” crop into an export powerhouse, we must shift away from just selling raw dried beans and toward building local manufacturing and processing facilities.
Local cacao still does not have a GI registration.
As Davao Cacao commands higher international prices due to its award-winning flavor profile, unethical global traders could easily blend inferior beans from other countries and falsely label them as “Davao Cacao.”
When I was covering the Senate, I remember that senator Ed Angara championed the passage of the High-Value Crops Development Act of 1995 (Republic Act 7907). It is fundamentally well-written but underfunded.
The entire program for high-value crops (ube, cacao, coffee, pili, mangoes, and bananas) is allocated roughly P2.1 billion to P2.6 billion compared to about P70 billion for rice.
The High-Value Crops Law is a vehicle with a great engine but almost no gasoline. It will only work when Philippine agricultural policy shifts from an outdated focus on absolute rice self-sufficiency to a modern focus on farmer income maximization.
Farmers must be encouraged to grow high-value crops for wealth and import their staple rice with the profits.
Boo Chanco’s email address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him X @boochanco