Global purple craze brightens hopes for Philippines ube farmers

(3rd of a series)

“There needs to be some sort of protection for the use of ube. You can’t just slap purple sweet potato and call it ube, that should be illegal.”

MANILA, Philippines — More than 8,000 kilometers away from an ube farm in Sapang Uwak, Pampanga, New Zealand-based entrepreneur Alonzo Nieves is connecting the dots for his startup export business. He scrolls through thousands of posts and listings in a Facebook group devoted entirely to ube – planting materials, ube powder, everything ube.

And then it hit him. Why is the ube supply chain so fragmented that it has become a rat race? That realization forced the 26-year-old Filipino to start Philippine Ube (philippineube.com).

“If you buy ube anywhere in the world, the likelihood is that it’s produced in China, which is insane to me. And I thought that should not be possible,” Nieves says.

Nieves studied ube and compared its status to other nationally iconic commodities such as Japan’s matcha and Colombia’s coffee. One thing is clear: ube has a long way to go in the global market.

Tackling export challenges

For one, sourcing ube for export is highly informal and fragmented. Nieves recalled that he had to depend on online trading groups on Facebook with more or less 2,000 agents and farmers.

“You will have to go through a hundred agents, all on Facebook or Viber, which is not, I believe, the standard for scaling an international supply,” he said.

Over time, the purple yam exporter decided to build direct relationships with producers, securing contract farming with about 15 farms.

Next is the problem of standardization in the grading of locally grown ube. If the country wants to propel ube onto the global stage, it should start by ensuring that farmers follow uniform, internationally accepted standards.

“When you are exporting at the rate of a 40-foot container every month to the same buyer, there is a problem with consistency and standardization, which will impact every single exporter,” he said.

Branding is another thing, Nieves notes. Ever since ube gained global recognition, it seems that it has been reduced to being a “tropical flavor,” he notes.

Nieves suggests that the industry and government work together in marketing and ensuring that ube is known as a flavor that is truly Filipino, just like  Colombian coffee and Japanese matcha.

The branding issue also runs deep because other countries like China and Vietnam have begun producing their own ube to take advantage of the global craze.

Nieves recommended that the government consider banning the export of raw ube or tubers to resolve the lack of planting materials locally as well as prevent other countries from producing our indigenous varieties.

Nieves estimated that about 64 percent of global ube exports are processed in China and then marketed abroad as “Filipino ube.”

“There needs to be some sort of protection for the use of ube. You can’t just slap purple sweet potato and call it ube, that should be illegal,” he said, rebuking mislabeling in international markets due to the absence of intellectual property safeguards.

The issuance of a Geographical Indication certification on Philippine ube varieties like kinampay would provide intellectual property protection while boosting their marketability in the world.

Harmonizing public-private support

Ube has been surviving all these years with limited government support. If the government would intervene, it should be in production support and credit for capital, experts said.

“Our successful export products are private-sector led like bananas and pineapples. If we take off from that, it is not much government support that will drive the industry but private sector investments,” says Ditas Macabasco, senior agribusiness specialist at University of Asia and the Pacific’s Center for Food and Agri Business.

Agriculture Undersecretary Cheryl Marie Natividad-Caballero said the Department of Agriculture is seeking a higher budget for ube and other tubers next year. The DA plans to request a budget of P100 million that will be used to expand grower partnership, distribute planting materials and capacitate research stations, among others. This year the government only has P16.1 million for ube and other related crops.

Caballero disclosed that the provincial government of Bohol is keen on expanding ube production across all of its municipalities by encouraging farmers to focus on just three varieties, including kinampay, which is considered the “Queen of Philippine Yams” because of its premiere taste, smell and color.

The DA is also working to attract private support to provide technical assistance and wider access to planting materials to key stakeholders of the ube industry.

Caballero said she has received an inquiry from a firm based in the United Arab Emirates that wants to invest in ube plantation and processing in the Philippines for eventual export to the Middle East. Another foreign company is inquiring about possible investments to grow ube in the country and sell them abroad including the US.

Nieves explained that the Filipino diaspora is widely contributing to the growing demand for ube products abroad. By mid-2025, Nieves saw an influx of orders from countries such as France, the Netherlands and most especially South Korea, which has been “pumping” ube in cafes and bakeries. — Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas

(Up next: Ube’s past and future)