Alcala backs natural ingredients industry

MANILA, Philippines - Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala backs the natural ingredients industry, saying it is high time for Filipino farmers to cash in on the $400-billion global market.

The sector has been earning foreign exchange for the past decade using only the most basic manufacturing processes and the least overhead.

Alcala stressed that the industry has been helping reduce the imports of health and wellness products and expanding the market for domestic goods.

However, the Department of Agriculture (DA) should start expanding the farms producing crops, plants and herbs noted for their natural ingredients.

Two such plants – lagundi and turmeric or luyang dilaw – should be propagated nationwide to supply the demands of the industry.

Tamarind, which grows everywhere in the country, needs to be cultured systematically to supply the requirements of instant sour broth manufacturers.

“It’s actually being looked at now (by government) because it provides an opportunity to our farmers for additional income, particularly those in the uplands,” added Dr. Candida Adalla, program director of the Department of Agriculture’s Biotech Implementation Unit (DA-BIU).

Adalla said there is a niche for Philippine natural ingredients the world over and Filipino entrepreneurs must go for it.

Two of the country’s biggest pharmaceutical companies have given priority for the development of natural ingredients for their medicines.

However, the emphasis has been on lagundi, now a popular medicine for cough.

Natural ingredients, Adalla added, are derived from crops and plants that are indigenous to our soil and climatic conditions and even from plants that could be introduced and produced in substantial volumes.

These crops and plants are easy to manage and require minimum inputs.

However, the wellness market is still surprisingly dependent on imports, with essential oils used in spas coming from China, India and Vietnam.

Turmeric is imported from India even as it can be cultivated in big numbers here, Adalla claimed, without losing any of its efficacy.

Unfortunately, the country’s biggest food ingredient company still imports 8,000 metric tons (MT) of tamarind for its sampaloc broth.

Sampaloc grows in all regions and the fruit is standard fare for regional dishes.

Farmers can profit from wellness

Growing demand of the wellness market should attract more farmers to produce natural ingredients with a variety of applications, Alcala said.

Alcala’s interest in the natural ingredients industry was boosted by the results of a study undertaken by Hybrid-gim Consulting Inc. (HGI) as commissioned by Adalla.

HGI’s study, Adalla noted, “showed there is a big market, a global market, for natural ingredients.”

Alcala has seen the growth of the industry for the past few years as it responds to shifting consumer trends and new market opportunities.

One major development has been the surge in media coverage on wellness, Alcala and Adalla said, that has caused many people to redefine their concept of health “not merely as the absence of disease, but of increased vitality.”

Concern for vitality, the study stressed, “has been one of the growth drivers for food, beverages, and cosmetics which incorporate functional ingredients.”

Pharmaceutical ingredients have already created niches, with demand for new product categories such as “nutraceuticals” and “cosmeceuticals” stronger than expected.

The global market for natural ingredients was even forecast to reach $18 billion by next year.

Cosmetics that use ingredients which confer health or wellness benefits were projected to grow by 8.1 percent, with the demand for the ingredients outstripping the demand for products.

There is also less emphasis on essential oils and aroma chemicals, with research and development (R&D) by ingredients companies leading to the shift.

In the last three decades, there has been substantial growth in herbal medicine market globally.

Today, 80 percent of the people in developing countries reportedly rely on plant-based products for health care that are widely available and more affordable.  – Biolife News Service