Discovering tea in Zamboanga

MANILA, Philippines - It was less than two decades ago when Leodegario Garcia stumbled across Ceylon Tea while attending a seminar at the City of Pines. Impressed by its delicate flavor and aromatic taste, he collected half a kilo of the marble-like tea seeds from the Bureau of Plant Industry at the Baguio Experiment Station, and took it home to La Paz, Zamboanga City.

“I thought since Baguio and La Paz have similarly cool weathers, the tea seeds would thrive and grow abundantly back home,” Garcia said.

He was right. Eighty-five percent of the seeds sprouted and blossomed after they were planted in potted plastic bags. Soon, seedlings for research purposes were abundant.

With the help of a team of ex-perts, Garcia conducted a study on the adaptability and other cultural practices related to the massive production of Ceylon Tea.

Based on their research, Ceylon Tea could be propagated through marcotting and can be produced on a massive scale.

Garcia added that applying a mixture of organic and inorganic fertilizer with high nitrogen content would induce leaf formation and enable the plant to produce more.

“It’s also good to regularly trim it to allow the branches and leaves to multiply,” he added.

The study also shows that when planted at a distance of one meter along the contours of upland farmlands, the plants can prevent soil erosion.

As such, Garcia recommended that a project on the massive pro-duction of Ceylon Tea be underta-ken by the government with the private entrepreneurs as partners.

“Sadly, our proposal was disapproved due to lack of funds,” he said.

Aside from this, there was also difficulty in the availability of planting materials, a good marketing scheme as well as processing machines.

In 2003, organic agriculture ad-vocate Dante de Lima was giving a lecture at La Paz on organic fertilizer production and compost-making when he himself stumbled across Ceylon Tea. At that time, the tea trees were not utilized for its beve-rage purposes but rather as firewood and fuel source.

“Sadly, the tea was not used for its value,” de Lima said.

Seven years later, De Lima, now director of the Department of Agriculture’s High Value Commercial Crops Development Program (HVCDP), is set to strengthen programs and maximize the use of Ceylon Tea trees.

“We are setting aside P725,000 in funds under the HVCDP to cover the establishment of Organic Tea Production and Commercialization Project,” De Lima said.

The program will include the construction of model farms in two barangays with corresponding trainings on the rehabilitation, protection and management of existing tea trees as source of planting materials. Two new multiplier farms will also be established.

DA is partnering with the Alternative Center for Organizational Reforms and Development, Inc. (ACORD) in the implementation of the program.

“We believe that ACORD is capable to establish the organic tea production and commercialization,” De Lima said. 

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala is positive that the project will prosper with combined efforts from the national and local governments and non-government organizations.

Once production picks up, DA is ready to assist and provide a viable marketing scheme that will benefit all stakeholders.

“Simula na po ng pagbabago, may taya ang pamahalaan kaya dapat ay may taya din ang farmers,” Alcala said urging farmers to extend full cooperation to the program. (This is the beginning of change, the government has placed its bet, and so must the farmers.)  

And so today, what started as a bag of half-kilo seeds is now over 3,000 seedlings that will place the town of La Paz as the tea capital of the country.