Getting Mindanao’s best vegetables to the consumer

(First of a series)

DAVAO CITY — With the current surge in demand for healthy alternatives to eating beef and pork, both domestic and international markets are on the lookout for new sources of high-quality "green" food.

A major supplier of vegetables in the country is Mindanao, with its favorable agro-climatic conditions and extensive production sites.

The main vegetable producing areas are the provinces of Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon in northern Mindanao, and Compostela Valley, Davao del Sur, Davao City and South Cotabato in the southern part of the island-region.

Thousands of hectares are now being devoted to producing temperate crops like tomato, sweet pepper, white potato, carrot, cabbage and cauliflower as well as tropical varieties like cucumber, ampalaya, eggplant and sitao.

However, the region still faces hurdles in the various stages of crop selection, growing, harvesting and marketing of these commodities.

Sowing good seeds

"While Mindanao has the potential to meet the country’s growing need for vegetables, a lot still has to be done, starting at the field level, all the way to getting the products at their finest quality to the consumer," says Dr. Merle Menegay, head of the agribusiness team of the USAID-sponsored Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) program.

Foremost among these concerns is the lack of improved crop varieties and appropriate cultivation practice. Most farmers grow vegetables using inferior seeds saved from previous harvests. This practice leads to crops of lesser quality which consequently fetch lower prices.

In Davao City, six commercial seed companies are working together with the GEM program, the Department of Agriculture, the local government and farmers in implementing a series of comparative field trials of vegetable varieties in the upland Marilog District.

Each seed company in this "Seed Caravan" provided its best seed varieties of highly saleable temperate and tropical vegetables.

Planting followed a protocol of common production technologies agreed upon by the seed companies to ensure that such factors as fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation are similar for each variety.

"These trials widen the options of farmers in choosing new crop varieties suitable to their location, allowing them to make informed choices," says Menegay.

The five-month field trials will culminate in July with a crop harvest festival open to farmers, institutional buyers and large and small-scale traders. This way, says Menegay, the market’s attention will be directed to ongoing efforts to upgrade the quality of vegetables growing the area.

"We hope farmers can go into growing agreements with these buyers right there during the harvest festival," he added.

The positive response has prompted the project proponents to spin-off Seed Caravan in three areas in Bukidnon. They will be implemented by the Bukidnon Integrated Area Development Project, with funding from the Asian Development Bank and assistance by the GEM program.

Choosing wisely

While the Seed Caravan is primarily aimed at improving the input of farmers, it also serves to disseminate new technologies, as participating farmers are encouraged to observe production practices throughout the growing period.

The Davao City Agriculturist’s Office, with support from the Department of Agriculture (DA), is also conducting weekly training sessions through its Farmers’ Field School (FFS) program.

Project coordinators are also arranging for farmers’ organizations and sari-sari stores located along main thoroughfares to act as sales outlets for high-quality seeds. This will ensure easy access for farmers to a wider variety of seeds.

The GEM program is also currently testing training modules designed to help farmers identify their markets, hone their marketing skills and be able to choose wisely from among proliferating new technologies.

"Farmers are realizing that they have to link their production practices with their markets and be able to size up available opportunities," says GEM agribusiness specialist Alexander Tabbada.

From field to consumer

Handling and transportation technologies are crucial factors in the vegetable trade, since the vegetables’ postharvest condition and appearances can rapidly deteriorate during the course of marketing.

To move their produce, agribusiness enterprises still rely on traditional packing containers, including sacks, wooden boxes, baskets and old cardboard boxes — all of which vary widely in sturdiness and weight capacity.

The use of these unwieldy containers, coupled with the common practice of overstuffing, generally leads to poor handling during transport. This, in turn, results in extensive spoilage and reduced shelf life for perishable commodities like vegetables, particularly when shipped over long distances.

The poor quality of produce and high rate of deterioration is a major constraint in the competitiveness of Mindanao suppliers, who must compete with high-quality imports and Baguio growers when targeting buyers in Luzon and Visayas.

The loss in revenue is passed back to the farmers in terms of lower buying prices, or quantity discounts in anticipation of lower-grade and discarded produce.

Ideally, to ensure that vegetable reach the consumer in their most pristine state, they would pass through an integrated cool chain system that begins right at the planting site and provides a controlled environment all the way up to the chef’s chopping block. (To be continued)