SAN JOSE, Antique – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) – Antique recently conducted an investment forum on cacao production to urge local farmers to invest in the crop amid the low supply of cacao beans in the province.
Cacao is considered a valuable crop and the cacao industry is one of the priority industries assisted by DTI, providing the province with a Shared Service Facility (SSF) in cacao processing.
The said SSF, located in Patnongon town, offers improved technologies in processing cacao seeds.
Business owner and cacao processor Ramon Iwag said the SSF can only be maximized when there is a sufficient supply of beans, noting that the current local supply is not enough to sustain the demand for processing into products like tablea, syrup, and cocoa powder.
While there are local producers, Iwag sources out the bulk of cacao beans from nearby provinces with the majority coming from as far as Davao.
Meanwhile, the Patnongon OFW Association is proposing the establishment of the Cacao Central Buying Hub which intends to provide a central and common destination for the harvest of cacao growers and planters.
Citing international links, association president Rowen Moscoso said that home-grown cacao must be of good quality to reach farther markets.
For his part, Provincial Livelihood and Promotion Council focal person Brian Encarnacion presented the legal basis of cacao development in the province as stipulated in Provincial Ordinance No. 2020-235 or the “Ordinance Creating the Provincial Task Force for Cacao Inventory and Development in the Province of Antique.”
The ordinance seeks to boost the support of cacao farmers by securing quality cacao seedlings, training and the protection of farmers, and propagation of cacao as a major commodity in the province. (PIA-Antique/PN)
