Text and Photos By Henrylito D. Tacio
“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” When Tom Hanks delivered those lines in the Oscar awarded Forrest Gump, most of the choco aficionados agreed.
There’s no person in this world who may not like chocolates at all. “Any sane person loves chocolate,” declared Bob Greene. In fact, “nine out of ten people like chocolate. And the tenth person lies,” said John Q. Tullius.
Chocolate consumption worldwide has been growing at 3 percent annually, recent studies have shown. “Though the majority of cacao is consumed in North America and Europe, demand is growing more rapidly in Asia where strong economic growth, particularly in India and China, is resulting in more people being able to afford luxury foodstuffs such as chocolate,” according to a position paper written by Adam Keatts and Christopher Root.
Chocolates come from the seeds of cacao (called cocoa), which was first cultivated by the Mayas around the 7th century A.D. They carried the seed north from the tropical Amazon forests to what is now Mexico. In the 16th century, the Spanish planted cacao across South America, into Central America, and onto the Caribbean Islands. In the 17th century, the Dutch transported the cacao to other places around the globe like Java, Sumatra, Sri Lanka, New Guinea, and the Philippines.
“In 1670, Spanish mariner Pedro Bravo de Lagunas planted the first cacao in San Jose, Batangas,” reports The Philippines Recommends for Cacao. After that, cacao growing flourished in various parts of the country – until pod rot wiped out plantations of it.
In the 1950s, the imposition of Import Control Law resulted in efforts to revive the industry by inter-governmental agencies and by private sector for self-sufficiency and export. By the time the industry was blooming, pod borer infestation surfaced. Control of the disease was quite expensive. As a result, established plantations were again wiped out; others were abandoned.
This particularly happened in Mindanao, where most of the cacao crops were grown. In 1990, about 18,388 hectares were planted to cacao, according to the Department of Agriculture.
By 2006, the area declined to less than 10,000 hectares. During this period, production fell from 9,900 tons to about 5,400 tons, with two-thirds of the production coming from Davao region alone.
As production plummeted in the Philippines, demand for cocoa beans in the international continued to grow. In 2010, the annual world market needs was 3.6 million tons of cocoa beans. The demand was growing annually by 90,000 tons.
Since cacao is considered an equatorial crop (crops that thrive well in regions occupying the equator), the Philippines has a great potential growing cacao. “I really could not believe why we cannot export cacao beans when the Philippines is ideal for cacao growing,” Roy C. Alimoane, director of Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center (MBRLC). “Mindanao, for instance, is best for cacao production.”
Although cacao can be grown anywhere in the country, Mindanao has two advantages: good rainfall and good soil. Studies have shown that the potential expansion for cacao growing is huge: about 2,000,000 hectares of coconut lands are “highly suited” to be interplanted with cacao.
In Davao City, Councilor Leonardo Avila III is encouraging farmers and entrepreneurs to plant cacao. “I urge farmers and agribusiness sectors to invest in cacao because it’s a wonderful opportunity,” said Avila, when he was still the chief of the city agriculture office. “It’s a suitable crop in diversifying the existing tree crops and in making more money. And there is already a ready market.”
In fact, the market is so promising that even Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF) has selected cacao as one of the commodities it singled out as having the high potentials of uplifting the standard of living of farmers and depressed communities.
The Philippines needs about 40,000 metric tons of cocoa annually. But Filipino farmers can only produce 10,000 metric tons. This means that to supply the annual needs, it has to import 30,000 metric tons from other countries.
Valente D. Turtur, executive director of the Cacao Industry Development Association in Mindanao, urged farmers in Davao region to plant more cacao tree to meet the global demand of cocoa.
“By 2020, there will be a chocolate meltdown because of the shortage of cacao in the world market. By this time, the Davao Region will be ready to produce the cacao that the market demands,” Turtur was quoted as saying.
According to studies, at least two hundred million cacao trees should have been grown by 2020 to reach the target volume of 100,000 tons of cacao beans. That’s more than two times the annual domestic demand of the country.
Currently, only about 20,000 hectares are planted to cacao in five Davao provinces (Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley, and Davao Occidental) and the city of Davao. The region contributes 70 percent of the total cacao production in the country. “The Davao region has to plant seven million trees to meet the 2020 target,” Turtur said.
But its’ not only in Davao region that cacao grows well. Cacao is also conducive to grow even in Zamboanga. In fact, the profitability of cacao production has convinced Ramon T. Ubando, a handicapped farmer from Opao in Dapitan City, to go into cacao farming. Because of a severe vascular disease he acquired since childhood, the middle of his right hip and knee in his right leg had to be amputated. That was in 1973 when he was still 40 years old.
Ten years ago, he became interested into farming. He raised some livestock in his backyard to make both ends meet. “His farm was augmented by his inquisitive efforts of seeking crops and technologies that alleviates economic status of his family,” reports Ariel A. Lao-ay, who used to work as a technician for a program that was funded by the United States Agency for International Development.
That was how Ubando discovered cacao growing. Thanks to a six-month training conducted by the Department of Agrarian Reform. Equipped with technical skills and enthusiasm, he started a 100-hill cacao budwood garden in one-fourth of a hectare in his farm. He propagated and maintained five different cacao clones. “Cacao puts cash into my empty pocket,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Davao’s reputation as a source of quality cacao beans is growing, not just domestically but in other countries as well.
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