Philippine Cacao Industry Development Council President Valente Turtur disclosed on Wednesday the initiatives of the council to uplift the quality of cacao beans produced in the country.
“We want to ensure that what we will produce are only premium cacao beans,” stressed Turtur.
During a media forum at Habi at Kape, Abreeza Mall, Davao City, Turtur announced that for the first time, Philippines was invited to participate in the International Cocoa Awards in Paris, France.
He said PCIDC will be sending entries from five farms located in Davao Region, the largest cacao producing region in the country.
Meanwhile, on February 27 to 28, 15 participants who are already chocolate practitioners will undergo a chocolate-making seminar training. Turtur said one niche chocolate expert from the US will conduct the training at Philippine Women’s College.
Also, a technical workshop on cacao production and post-harvest will be conducted on March 2 and 3 at Grand Men Seng Hotel, Davao City.
Turtur also mentioned other events in-line such as Island’s Cacao Connect, a trade fare and business-matching event involving three main islands of the country, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. However, the date and venue is still tentative but Turtur said it will be either in Pampangga or Nueva Ecija.
The PCIDC president is also looking forward to the conduct of National Cacao Congress in Cebu by May, 2017.
Quality over quantity
The PCIDC President emphasized that the efforts to enhance the quality of the country’s cacao beans will result to increase in demand which will also increase the cacao production of the farmers.
Turtur said the council is targeting an annual produce of 100,000 metric tons by 2022, two years-past the first deadline they set which is 2020.
As of 2016, Philippines produced 12,000 metric tons of cacao from the 28,000 hectares total land area around the country, 2,000 metric tons short from their target of 14,000 for 2016. Turtur cited the recent El Niño phenomenon as responsible for the shortage of the country’s produce.
“The demand is very high. For the Philippines, the annual requirement is 36,000 metric tons,” Turtur admitted, adding that the country still imports cacao from Indonesia and Malaysia to supply the annual requirement of chocolate manufacturers within the country.
Turtur also mentioned that the council is promoting intercropping of abaca, banana and cacao (ABaCa) because the method also helps farmers to compensate in case of damage in one of the crops.
Meanwhile, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Region XI director Ma. Belenda Q. Ambi, also guesting during the forum said the agency will extend its efforts in helping the cacao industry players in the region such as providing equipment for manufacturing.
“DTI has provided 10 SSF (Shared Service Facility) to cacao industry players,” said the regional director.
