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CANDELARIA, Zambales—A couple from this sleepy
agricultural town is now trailblazing the way to how to
become successful agribusinessmen from being “landless”
farmers.
Noel and
Evelyn Grace, proprietors of the Green Thumb Agri
Products based in Sitio Lauis, Candelaria, Zambales,
started their business in 1999, almost the same year
Noel, a farmer, was awarded 9,728 sq m of land by the
Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) under the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
With one
mango tree to start with and a P5,000 capital, the
couple ventured into food processing, manufacturing
chiefly sweet Zambales dried mangoes which they sold in
the local market.
Today,
they are not only producing Zambales dried mangoes,
which find their way abroad as most balikbayan
buy them by bulk for baon. Green Thumb earned
its Good Manufacturing Practice certificate, and is
eyeing to have the word “organic” in its label.
The
couple is now a consolidator of products of members of
the Candelaria Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs), and
is producing dried mangoes. Green Thumb has a
production capacity of 500 kilos of dried mangos a
month, says Evelyn, a retired government employee.
According to Evelyn, they used to be rice and mango
farmers, but they thought of adding value to Zambales’
most precious products through food processing.
“We had
no formal training on how to make dried mangoes.
Through trial and error, we were able to perfect our
product,” she said.
Evelyn,
who manages Green Thumb, is the vice president of the
Samahang Magmamangga ng Zambales Inc. and president of
the Zambales Food Specialty Manufacturers Association
Inc.
Because
of her expertise in processing and manufacturing dried
mangoes, she is now being tapped by the DAR to train
other agrarian- reform beneficiaries who undergo
dried-mango processing seminars.
The
couple receives free training from several government
agencies, including the DAR and the Department of
Science and Technology, which the couple admits has
helped in the product-enhancement aspect of their
business.
Now,
Green Thumb is also processing other products such as
kamias, tamarind and papaya. One of their proud
products is the mango nectar.
Evelyn
said they only process Zambales mangoes, one of the
sweetest mangoes, perhaps comparable with the Guimaras
sweet mangoes.
Zambales
is known to be host to hundreds of century-old mango
trees, which bear the sweetest mango fruits.
Green
Thumb is now buying mangoes from farmers, even outside
the Candelaria ARC, because of the big local demand.
The
company is one of the very few companies that passed the
Good Manufacturing Process certification of the Bureau
of Food and Drugs, one of the requirements for exporting
such products.
However,
the Green Thumb owners said they are not eyeing yet
exporting their product, saying the local demand is so
big that production of dried mangoes in Zambales alone
is not enough.
Green
Thumb is seeking “organic” certification, as they are
eyeing the European market in due time.
“In a
year or two, if we get that certification, we will try
the European market. But that is if our production
capacity can satisfy first the local demand,” she said,
adding that even though some balikbayan have been
begging for them to export their products, they prefer
to distribute the products locally first, as they are
eyeing a bigger market, being the first to process
organically grown Zambales mangoes.
“We are
now in the process. We have stopped using fertilizer
and started using organic fertilizer,” she said. |
