Open Letter to Dr. Ramon TarocMay 25, 2002
Dr. Ramon Taroc Dear Dr. Taroc: Greetings from California! I am in an agriculture frame of mind as I write and
I hope this letter finds you well.
This is intended to be an open letter which I will be sharing
with the public through the Siquijor.Com website in the hope that it
will generate a discussion and action on our favorite topic: agri-business
toward economic development in Siquijor. When I visited you last December, you lamented that agriculturists in general do not get enough respect from people and I said I was going to do what I can to help change our people's attitude toward your profession. You also told me that y our ultimate dream as the Provincial Agriculturist is to plant trees in every empty square meter of land in Siquijor. As a farmer wannabe, I share your sentiments and I support your vision. The respect we seek is not going to fall in our laps and the dream of a totally green Siquijor will remain distant without honest-to-goodness hard work on our part so if you permit me, I would like to continue our dialogue then go beyond rhetoric into planting. Last Thursday, at the invitation of the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco, I attended a reception/information session in honor of representatives from the DA national office and mango exporters who are on a roadshow in the US to inaugurate the entry of the Philippine mango into the US market. A historical event with a possible economic impact on Siquijor, if I may say. I dare hope. I will focus my message on the Siquijor mango issue and what we might be able to do to join the business and hopefully help achieve economic growth for the island. Presumptuous, no? But no dream, no gain. Permit me to dream. I see the potential for an economic uplift for farmers through mango production. Better than mining that irreparably degrades the environment, better than the coconut for its copra whose market value has declined, the mango may be our economic salvation and consequently could gain for you, your staff and mango farmer wannabes in the island the respect we all seek to have. But above all it will enable the poorest among our farmers to earn honest cash. Mahogany is good except that it has to be felled upon maturity for marketable timber. A mahogany grower would have to wait another 15-20 years before he could harvest again, as opposed to the yearly harvest of mangoes. There is potential, honestly earned cash from mangoes that can go directly into peoples' pockets, because growers will essentially be self-employed. Assume that one tree yields P30,000 worth of fruits in one season. A farmer with 5 trees stands to earn as much as P150K a year, an amount that the average Islahanon could not earn from mere employment. The value added is self-respect in the long term. Dr. Taroc, this may be your legacy to the island. The Guimaras mango now exported to the US only gained entry after a 15-year quarantine of the island to ensure the fruit is free of pulp and seed weevils. I am sure you are up to date on this issue. I left the discussion before the actual tasting of the fruit began so I cannot attest to the DA's claim that it is top quality. They (DA) are promoting it as better quality than the Mexico fruit (they have captured 80% of the US mango market) for being creamy and sweeter, so let's assume it is. The Mexican mango is definitely bigger but fibrous and not as sweet as any Philippine mango I have eaten, including our pygmy taligatos. The Guimaras fruit is smaller, about 3 to 4/5 the size of our carabaon. I believe our local carabaon and other varietals from Zambales, Cebu and Davao hold a strong competitive edge and could be entered in the export market if we meet the USDA requirements. My point here, is that perhaps the Siquijor can be on the map and the DA (you) can encourage local growers to propagate as many seedlings as they can and sell/donate them to the DA for distribution to cash-strapped farmers. The farmers need the DA to jump-start them in this project, subsidizing them with fertilizers and offering them technical advice. This is perhaps the first step in the rung to get to the export parade. The next immediate step, as growers plant their seedlings will be to apply for quarantine in the interim in parallel of the planting. The island of Panay is now being quarantined and I imagine there are mango plantations there that will be ready to bear fruits within the next year or so. The DA is now looking at the Negros island as the next quarantine target, perhaps at the behest of mega-farmers like Cojuangco et al. No matter our size, we ought to strive for Siquijor to be included in their quarantine radar screen. We may need to increase production because low yield could eliminate us from their view. If the volume is so low, we cannot attract the attention of the exporters since it would not be worth their while to pick up just a few baskets. In the meantime let's apply for inclusion in the quarantine program of the DA. Carpe Diem! The market is there, if not the global consumers, certainly the local food processors (Cebu has 14 such plants) to whom Siquijor growers can sell their fruits. Quarantine may require stringent rules toward the inflow of fruits, vegetables and other produce from non-quarantined places into Siquijor. Consequently, the livelihood of a few vendors could be impacted. The Cebu mango was eyed as a potential export but because Cebu buys mangoes from non-quarantined areas for its food processors, their fruit was dropped from the exportable bunch. Bottom line is that the USDA would not risk the entry of one contaminated fruit that could carry the dreaded weevil. Perhaps the vendors could buy their goods from quarantined places or sell other stuff instead to continue to earn their living. There is a greater good to be achieved in the long haul. Enforcing quarantine restrictions are in your hands. We must act now. Under way at this time is a parallel study on the process of irradiating (?) (I am not too sure if this is the exact term) the fruits to achieve the same quality results without having to go through the mandated 15-year quarantine process. Through this method, the Siquijor mangoes could be processed to qualify for exports, certainly an option to take if we had the facility. The caveat here is that Siquijor does not have the infrastructure to support such processing, mainly because we do not generate enough power needed to run it. Prosielco cannot adequately meet the basic household need for power, let alone a mini-industrial processing plant. Dumaguete might operate one in the near future and we should look into the possibility of having today's products be given this "chemical shower" for quality control at the Dumaguete plant. Absent that, we still have another option within our control for even if the Siquijor mango does not make the US grade: there will still be a ocal market in food processors located in neighboring islands, notably Cebu. Would your office be able to facilitate sourcing of seedlings, especially of the Guimaras or Zambales carabaon variety? Do you have the lab facility to propagate seedlings (culture grow) of the best of the island variety? I can inquire with the Foundation University School of Agriculture on mango cultures. For seedlings, I know of at least two nurseries from which to purchase them and I can introduce you to them, if needed. I also have a couple of friends from Zambales who could help us procure Zambal carabaon seedlings. Would the DA be able to subsidize the purchase of these seedlings for farmers who have cash flow problems? I am almost sure that there are so many of them with at least half a hectare of fallow land with a desire to develop their farm but have not done so for lack of capital. Arguments for mango production are many: 1) a newly opened strategic market which is the US, 2) the comparatively higher market value for the fruit, 3) its production is less work intensive than grain production, and 4) relatively lower maintenance/overhead costs as the trees begin to bear fruits. Moreover, the technology to lengthen shelf life of the fruit is already at hand. Refrigeration, given our inadequate infrastructure, could be a problem but if the fruits are delivered to the exporters or food processing plants in Cebu or Dumaguete within 24 hours from harvest, the need for refrigeration in the island may be eliminated. From tree to market is a roadmap we need to explore. I have the names of a couple of DA marketing division reps and exporters that we can contact but it might be a bit premature to talk to them at this time. When the island is perhaps within a year or two of volume production, we can talk substance to them. (Let’s go organic, if we can. I would discourage the use of sprays to induce blooms until it is ascertained that the spray including pesticides, is not harmful to the environment as well as its handlers). Dr. Taroc, there are thousands of Siquijodnons who live in America and elsewhere on the globe who dream of returning to the island to retire. I know a few who are now into planting. Manang Belen (Ligutom) once said, "Manguli ta ug mananum!" I share her dream and I'd like to encourage all Siquijor expats to take her advice seriously. I will do my part to spread the word, starting with this letter. Your department could also start a planting campaign, especially among the cash-strapped farmers. If this campaign could convince each one to start with one or two trees in their backyard, this could put the island as a major producer of this fruit among other benefits. We don't have to be a Cojuangco, but together, the volume of production could be formidable. There is gold in mangoes. I learned from attending a seminar at the Wildlife nursery in Quezon City last December that mangoes love the sun. We certainly have plenty of that in Siquijor, di ba? Let's plant now. Time is of the essence. Take the lead, Dr. Taroc. Siquijor engaged in a viable agribusiness enterprise is within the reach of your leadership. This will be your legacy. There are people who are behind you. And I am ready and willing to rally behind and help you in any useful way I can. Just let me know how I can be of help. At the outset, I said this is an open letter. I hope this will encourage others to participate in the discussion and go from mere rhetoric to action. Na hala. Hope to hear your thoughts on this dream. More power and best regards to you and your DA staff.
BTW, Guimaras is now promoted as an ecotour stop with the joint support of the DA and the DOT because of its mango plantations. Siquijor could be in the ecotouring map too but we have to work hard to push it to that level! |