Ilocos garlic industry sees better times

Ilocandia’s garlic industry is headed for much better times.

And growers of this cash and food crop in the region have a government program and an agency to thank.

Called “Garlic Technology Commercialization in Region I: Production, Processing, Enterprise Development and Market Strategies”, the program is being undertaken by the Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Unit I-Ilocos Integrated Agricultural Research Center (DA-RFU I-(ILIARC) satellite station 2.

A report on the venture authored by Wilhelmina Castañeda, Sharon Victoria, Aida Solsoloy, and Leonarda Pascua was among the winners in the 2008 National Research Symposium (R&D competition) sponsored by the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR).

The project has four stages: pre-implementation, implementation, community organization and legalization, and enterprise development and marketing strategies.

Each stage consisted of a series of activities participated in by DA-RFU I, ILIARC, Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), a multi-campus tertiary institution in Ilocos Norte, local government units, and private sector.

The packages of technologies provided were the modified garlic production and garlic processing. Venues of technology dissemination were technology briefings, print and broadcast media, regional research symposia, agricultural fairs, and others.

Through community organization and legalization, which led to enterprise development and market strategies, 25 people initially joined hands and formed an organization named “Siwawer Garlic Products Association”. The group was subsequently registered with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Marketing strategies involved selling of raw garlic bulbs and processed products. Garlic bulbs were commonly sold by pakyaw (wholesale) system while the garlic plants were still in the field.

The off-sized bulbs were processed into value-added products such as pickled garlic and garlic chips.

“The garlic technology commercialization from production, processing, enterprises development, and market strategies provided great economic benefits to farmer-partners, resulting in an expanding business venture by the Siwaver Garlic Products Association,” the DA-RFU I-ILIARC researchers reported. — Rudy A. Fernandez