Ifugao bananas pass strict Japan standards

MANILA, Philippines - Ifugao province has been known to be an advocate of organic farming. Amazingly, this endeavor opened doors for farmers to showcase their produce in the international arena. And when a country like Japan – whose standards when it comes to ‘safe foods’ are very strict – nods at organically-grown bananas in the Philippines, it sure is something to take pride of, especially by farmer-growers themselves.

This  is exactly what the Santa Maria Banana Producers Association (SABAPA) in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao felt when they began exporting their produce to  Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. 

It all started with CPAR

SABAPA was created as a farmer organization in 2010.

The farmer organization got  involved in a Community-based Participatory Action Research (CPAR) project proposed by the local government unit of Alfonso Lista in collaboration with the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR).

The SABAPA started with 23 farmer members. A year after, the association was registered with  the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), enabling the group to rightfully enjoy various technical assistance and opportunities from the government as part of the project’s sustainability measure.

The project titled, “Community-based Participatory Action Research on Banana Production and Processing in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao” generally aims to increase productivity among farmers in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao, through the introduction of new banana production and processing technologies.

To achieve this goal, the farmers underwent training on farm management and organic production technologies during which  they learned the use of tissue-cultured banana plantlets, recommended planting distances, clean cultivation through periodic weeding, desuckering, removal of the male bud, propping of banana plants, trimming of leaves and care for banana bunches, bunch covering, harvesting, and even marketing.

The trainings not only focused on banana production, but also included organic foliar formulation, and preparation of botanical pesticides from indigenous plants.

The project then linked with the Cooperative for Rural Development (CORDEV), a Nueva Vizcaya-based multipurpose cooperative that provides a wide range of product development and marketing strategies.

Along with the project team from the LGU-Alfonso Lista, CORDEV assisted the farmer-cooperators in field validation, plantation establishment, and farm care and maintenance, and even harvest.

A 76-year old farmer cooperator, Erma Habiling, shared how CORDEV has been of big help especially to her and her husband as they are already old and have difficulty in harvesting bananas.

“The CORDEV people were actually doing the laborious work for us – that is, they harvest our bananas because we are too old to do that,” she said, adding “Another thing, they do it themselves because they want to make sure that it would cause no damage to the bananas but still they buy our produce at the same rate. They don’t charge for the labor.”  

Japan-grade bananas

Prior to the implementation of CPAR in Alfonso Lista, farmers were already into banana production.

However, there was a pressing need for the growers to level up their knowledge in terms of quality improvement  to meet the growing demands for bananas not only locally, but also internationally.

According to one of the project leaders, Peter Adawe, an agricultural technologist in the municipal local government unit of Alfonso Lista, every year there is a gradual increase in the production of bananas due to the commodity’s demand especially to nearby provinces like Isabela, Pangasinan, and Baguio City.

“CPAR has provided a good experience for banana growers in our municipality to learn and unlearn production strategies that will benefit the farmers and consumers alike,” Adawe shared, adding  that the zero-chemical policy that the farmers learned and mastered over the years has been the main reason why marketing organizations became attracted to this project.

A social enterprise called the Alter Trade Corp. (ATC) is a marketing arm of people’s organizations involved in providing livelihood programs, addressing hunger incidence, helping alleviate poverty and uplifting the lives of marginal communities.

ATC  recognized this campaign for safe food through the CPAR project. Since then, they have been providing marketing assistance to SABAPA, building linkages with markets in Japan particularly in Osaka and Tokyo.

Balangon variety is a subarashii banana

Balangon is a native variety of green banana, and is Alter Trade’s most widely produced and widest selling product. Other groups call it “bongolan” or wild Cavendish. This variety used to be grown by indigenous people because it is easily cultivated and  grows unattended in the mountainous, forested regions of the Philippines.

For many years, Alter Trade has been exporting Balangon bananas to Japan (which is also ATC’s largest Balangon market).

The association’s data on marketed bananas showed that as of February 2014, the volume of production of all 23 farmers reaches  5.81 metric tons (5,812.21 kgs). To date, the Ifugao province  contributed 11 percent of the Balangon banana for export, yet the demand continues to rise.

The SABAPA plans to expand the project by converting more idle lands into productive agribusiness areas, sharing knowledge and training other farmers in banana production.

Roy Gammad, a 67-year old farmer who is also an active member of the SABAPA, is more than eager to share how he personally succeeds through this project. “It gave me a sense of fulfillment as a farmer. All farmers want their produce to be recognized by our fellow citizens. But to be recognized in other countries, that’s more than enough,” he shared.

As the demand for organic food grows rapidly in Japan, and where food safety is of utmost concern (that even their law says that the country of origin of all products have to be listed and labels must come with very specific information such as chemicals used), and considering that the Philippines has already set a standard for the export quality of Balangon, plus small farmers can actually produce them, this might be a worthy opportunity for farmer-associations like SABAPA to take a good shot in the global market.