The Duterte administration should allocate more funds for its high-value crops (HVC) program to boost local vegetable production and reduce the country’s dependency on imports, an executive of East-West Seed (EWS) said on Tuesday.
EWS General Manager Mary Ann Sayoc said the Department of Agriculture (DA) should “calibrate and balance” the allocation for its commodity programs to boost the productivity of vegetable growers.
“We think that the DA should also pay more attention to high-value crops development. Because, right now, the focus is on rice and livestock and there’s very little budget for high-value commercial crops,” Sayoc said in a news briefing in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
“So there’s a lot to develop. What we are looking at is more on improving the value chain, the efficiency of the value chain,” Sayoc added.
Citing the report of the Euromonitor International on the situation of fresh fruits and vegetables in the Asia Pacific, Sayoc said the Philippines failed to grab a bigger share of the $2-billion vegetable market in the region. Sayoc added the Philippines’s share of the Asia-Pacific vegetable market stands at $240 million, lagging behind Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia.
“There is a lot of potential in the Philippine vegetable sector. Annually the country’s vegetable production is increasing by almost 2 percent and the growth of area being dedicated to planting vegetables is at 1.7 percent,” she said.
“The country’s annual growth rate for vegetable production is close to 2 percent, not enough to meet even the local demand for vegetables. That is why we still need to import more than $3 million worth of vegetables, which could be supplied by our local farmers,” Sayoc added.
The EWS official noted that the inadequate supply of fresh produce is also seen as one of the reasons Filipinos are among the lowest consumers of vegetables in the Asia-Pacific region on a per-capita level.
Citing latest government data, Sayoc said the country’s vegetable consumption per capita is at 44 kilograms per year, only half of the World Health Organization’s recommended annual consumption of 73 kg for a healthy diet.
“The Philippines consumes less than half the amount of vegetables that Vietnam does. Over 30 percent off the Philippine population is overweight and malnourished,” Sayoc said.
“Therefore, an increase in the availability, affordability and consumption of nutrient-dense vegetables is one way to combat malnutrition,” she added.
Sayoc cited the decline in Filipinos going into agriculture as a major factor behind the insufficient supply of locally produced vegetables.
“Due to the rising demand for vegetables in the country, the field of agribusiness is expected to grow. However, the current generation shies away from the field because it is perceived as difficult and unrewarding,” she said.
“The reason for this perception is that Filipino farmers predominantly plant rice and sugarcane, which yield less income when compared to vegetables,” she added.
Sayoc also noted that the cost of growing vegetables is also higher compared to the country’s Asean counterparts, resulting in more expensive produce and lower
consumption.
“We are trying to encourage more farmers to plant more vegetables. But we Filipinos are not used to eating vegetables,” she said.
“We produce vegetables that are more expensive than those in other Asean countries. Right now I would estimate that our production cost is 30 percent to 40 percent higher,” Sayoc added.
EWS is an integrated vegetable seed company and one of the 10 largest seed companies in the world. In 2016 it was ranked No. 1 in the “Global Index for Vegetable Seed Companies” by Access to Seeds, an independent organization funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation.