Villar sees cacao’s future in Calabarzon
GUMACA, Quezon — Senator Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture, said the other day that she foresees cacao as a major industry of the country bestproduced in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon), with this province being the perfect place to begin this ambitious endeavor.
Villar said this on Friday as she spoke at the first cacao school in the province in Barangay Villa Principe, this town, with cacao farmers from different parts of the region as her audience.
She said Quezon is perfect for intercropping cacao because of its vast tracts of land devoted to coconut plantations.
The event which gathered farmers from Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Batangas and Quezon was dubbed “Learning Session on Postharvest System for Cacao with Leadership Training & Operationalization of Community-Based Cacao Processing at Four K Cacao Farm, here.
The establishment of Four K Cacao Farm was initiated and facilitated by Quezon 4th District Rep. Angelina Tan and the regional office of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Villar commended the effort of Tan for organizing the learning and training program that has benefitted and helped cacao farmers throughout the region.
“These are exciting times for the cacao industry because the global demand for cocoa products continues to increase. So, (there are) a lot of opportunities. The demand is expected to reach between 4.7 million to five million metric tons (MT) by the year 2020. Meanwhile, the cocoa global shortage is predicted at one million metric tons by 2020,” she added.
She said the Philippines is wellpositioned to supply the gap. “We need just to enhance to be competitive. And the learning session that had been launched is of great help in the cacao farmers,” she said.
Based on DA records, the local average annual cacao consumption is placed at 50,000 metric tons and local supply is only around 10,000 metric tons.
“Kaya naman, kung gusto natin ma-corner ang global market, the local industry players should meet DA’s goal of increasing local production to 100,000 metric tons of dried cacao beans by 2020 (which I heard has been adjusted to 2022). To reach that production target, the Philippines needs to harvest from around 100 million cacao trees,” Villar said.