Fiestas good venue in promoting local industries - DOST study

MANILA, Philippines - Don’t look now, but fiestas are effective and profitable venues in promoting local industries.

Culturally and traditionally, such festivities have been known through the centuries as occasions wherein many Filipinos excessively spend what they have saved for a long time in just “one fleeting moment”.

Towns all over the Philippines host fiestas as offerings to patron saints for the bounties of harvest and gifts of nature, and to celebrate ancient traditions.

Fiestas celebrate life, a thanksgiving for the gifts of nature, the wealth of culture, and serenity of living. Filipinos observe fiestas with games, sports, street dancing, parades, floats, processions, and music.

Although some Filipinos celebrate fiestas with “bacchanalian abandon”, others do it in the most frugal and modest ways.

Now come studies by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) that fiesta celebrations can be a profitable venue in stimulating the development and growth of local industries.

These celebrations generally showcase local products and various opportunities available locally and, therefore, are healthy for the agribusiness, food, and tourism sectors managed by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

As the Los Baños-based DOST-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) has asserted:

“If only properly utilized, fiestas can be an effective venue in showcasing the S&T undertakings of the country’s research and development agencies, particularly in the fields of agriculture, forestry, and natural resources.”

“These initiatives have yielded a wide array of outputs from alternative fuel, food delicacies, processed food products, wines, grains, fruits, vegetables, and even furniture and clothes - the components of a true Filipino fiesta celebration,” wrote PCARRD’s Ricardo Argana.

Scanning the national landscape, DOST-PCARRD noted that among the most prominent of Philippine festivities are the Panagbenga in Baguio City, Pahiyas in Quezon, Peñafrancia in Naga City, Moriones in Marinduque, Sinulog in Cebu, Dinagyang in Iloilo, and Kadayawan in Davao City.

Others that are regarded as equally prominent in their respective areas are the Parada ng Lechon in Balayan, Batangas; Pinyahan Festival in Daet, Camarines Norte; Masakara Festival in Bacolod City; Sandugo Festival in Tagbilaran City, Bohol; Pintados Festival in Tacloban City, Leyte, Kinabayo Festival in Dapitan City; and Hermosa Festival in Zamboanga City.

Inspired by these celebrations and their possible contributions in promoting progress of local enterprises, PCARRD and a private partner, the Market Encounter Goes to Manila Foundation, Inc. (MEGMA), joined hands to maximize the services of their “Negosyo Bro” to help young businesses find their niche in the market.

“(The) partnership emphasizes the different types of products and services lines available for entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs,” reported PCARRD’s Hyacinth Tagupa.

One of these is the product industries. This involves manufacturing products, either for mass markets or specialized demands. For instance, producing canned goods is for the mass market, while baking made-to-order pastries is for specialized demands.

Another opportunity is in the service industry, as exemplified by catering in line with the food industry.

The processing industries are also a kind of product/service line. Here, the entrepreneurs deal with specific operations of the manufacturing process. It can be an initial operation such as milling rice, a final operation such as packing, or a precision or skilled operation such as testing.

Still another type is the subcontracting industries, wherein big companies subcontract manufacturing and other operations to smaller companies.

“For the big companies, this is an eager and more cost-effective way of producing, while for the small ones, this ensures their market. The weakness of this service lines is that companies may depend on just one or two partner organizations,” pointed out Tagupa.

Aside from choosing the right type of product or service line, Negosyo Bro also stresses the importance of innovation and diversification in business, especially in line with the government’s One Town. One Product (OTOP) program.

“Innovation here,” explained PCARRD, means having a new and feasible idea and using it to create new products or modify existing ones. This gives the business an edge in the market, and is specially helpful if the business is still in its initial stage.”

On the other hand, diversification is adding different products to the business, providing it with alternative sources of profits and a venue for growth.

PCARRD also advised: “The fact that a local festival focuses on one specialty should not limit local entrepreneurs   to identical goods. Combining innovation and diversification from an enterprise from the limitation of OTOP.”

Summing up, PCARRD continues to explore linkage between science and technology and fiesta celebrations in attaining progress in the countryside.