GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Many small farmers and producers in developing countries, aware of the quality control standards and volume requirements of buyers in the global food trade, quickly decide that they can’t afford to compete. But as a fruit growing association in the southern Philippines found out, in today’s highly diversified and fast-moving food trade, even small players can penetrate export markets and increase profits. The Tupi Papaya and Guava Growers’ association (TUPAGGA), a 25-member cooperative with a production area of about 50 hectares, saw itself only as a supplier to markets in its home region of Mindanao, and in the national capital, Manila. Earlier this year, the association, like other fruit growers, was in the doldrums after the Japan earthquake and tsumani caused a sharp drop in demand for tropical fruits. Multinational firms based in the Philippines which regularly supply the Japanese market dumped their shipments of tropical fruit in Manila, causing prices to slide. Still, hoping to attract new domestic clients, TUPAGGA decided last May to attend the International Food Exposition (IFEX), an international food trade show in Manila, with assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the Department of Agriculture and the Mindanao Fruit Industry Council (MinFruit). USAID, through its Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program, which is implemented under the oversight of the Mindanao Development Authority, assists Mindanao growers’ cooperatives and associations to upgrade their production methods and post-handling techniques, while assisting them to identify lucrative domestic and export markets for their produce. “It was our first time to attend a large trade show like IFEX, and we were looking for local buyers, thinking that the export market was beyond our capability,” said Ramon Mananasala, TUPAGGA’s chairman. These perceptions changed quickly when a buyer from the Middle East visited their booth, and liked the sunrise variety of papaya he sampled. “It had the sweetness he was looking for, and has a good shelf life,” said Manansala. USAID-GEM had earlier provided the association with training on updated farming technologies and introduced co-op members to new papaya varieties, including sunrise. After visiting TUPAGGA’s production area in Mindanao, the buyer placed an order for a trial shipment of papaya to Dubai, for almost triple the value the fruit would have fetched on the domestic market. “When I informed the other members about the order, at first they couldn’t believe it,” Manansala recalls. “They had thought the export market was beyond their reach.” As they went along, the association members made use of vital lessons they’d already learned, that would help them survive and thrive in the global market. They also gained new insights in the process of filling their first order. Following up on marketing opportunities. The IFEX show may have been its initial exposure to global buyers, but the association was prepared with its marketing strategy. For example, it provided the walk-in buyer from the Middle East with vital information about its production capability, invited him to visit the plantation in South Cotabato Province, and stressed the comparative advantages of Mindanao growers: a typhoon-free climate year-round, as well as the potential to expand the production area. Consolidation is key. Their foray into export would not have been possible if the 25 farmers hadn’t organized themselves into an association, with encouragement from USAID-GEM. This enabled them to synchronize their production and shipping schedules, and assured the buyer that his volume requirements would be met. Quality control and post-harvest technology. TUPPAGA found that quality control begins at the ground level. “For local markets, the fruit is sorted according to appearance, size and weight after it is harvested,” said Manansala. “But for export markets, we begin classification while the fruit is still growing, and then repeat the process in the packing stage, so as to ensure good quality.” The association also learned that quality controls vary from country to country. Most small fruit growers, for example, are unable to afford the vapor heat treatment (VHT) which is a prerequisite for exporting papaya, mango and other tropical fruits to countries with stringent phytosanitary requirements, like Japan. But TUPAGGA found that many markets in Asia and the Middle Eastallow the importation of mangoes which have been subjected to the simpler—and less costly—hot water treatment (HWT). USAID-GEM introduced TUPAGGA to another growers’ group which has its own HWT facility, and which let TUPAGGA use the facility for a fee. Packaging and packing.The Middle Eastbuyer supplied the association with the packaging materials for the first shipment, including cartons and fruit cups. But the association members realized that they also had to invest in food-grade plastic crates, to limit post-harvest bruising and help maintain the quality of the fruit during its overseas transport. The members found themselves working late into the night sorting and packing their first delivery, just barely meeting the shipping schedule set by the buyer. “Medyo magulo [It was a bit chaotic],” said Manansala, “But we could already see what improvements had to be made to speed up future shipments.” Just two weeks after its first shipment to Dubai, TUPAGGA filled its second delivery order from the Middle East. By this time, the association had greatly improved its packing assembly line, and easily met its volume quota and shipment schedule, having learned important lessons from their first shipment. Exhilarated, the association members have decided to invest their initial profits into production inputs, including improved fertilizers and higher-grade packaging and packing materials. “We’re already planning to revive production areas which had been temporarily left uncultivated after local prices for papaya dropped,” Manansala said. “We’re also looking into diversifying into organic bananas.” TUPAGGA has proven that the export market for fruit is not exclusively the domain of contract growers and multinational firms. With the right skills and the right attitude, even small farmers can find their market niche. USAID-GEM

A woman spreads newly-harvested corn on a solar dryer, one of two built by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Munai, Lanao del Norte. Each solar dryer measures 12 meters by 20 meters, and benefits the Dalama-Punong Farmers Irrigator’s Association, whose members cultivate a combined production area of 1,200 hectares of corn, rice and coconut. The new solar dryers, provided by USAID through its Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program, have helped to reduce crop losses in the drying stage, leading to improved harvests and allowing the farmers to negotiate for higher prices. USAID/GEM has completed more than 100 barangay infrastructure projects (BIPs), including solar dryers, in Lanao del Norte, out of the 1,300 BIPs built by the USAID program across conflict-affected areas in Mindanao in partnership with local government units. The USAID/GEM Program is implemented under the oversight of the Mindanao Development Authority.

The Northern Mindanao Vegetable Producers Association (NorMinVeggies) is implementing a groundbreaking farming and marketing system that has boosted the stock of hundreds of small-hold farmers across Mindanao in the southern Philippines, and revolutionized vegetable production in the region. Starting with only 15 producer-members in 1999, NorMinVeggies’ core membership has expanded to 178, which include farmers, cooperatives, foundations, and growers’ associations. The transformation began when NorminVeggies introduced the cluster farming method to its members. Under the clustering system, a group of farmers in selected areas are tasked to grow a particular crop utilizing a set of farming protocols and following a fixed production schedule. The association could then schedule the volume of the crops it would produce at a time based on the specific requirements of buyers. Commodity clustering is not new to Mindanao, where it has long been practiced through contract-growing agreements between farmers and large multinational agribusiness firms. What makes NorminVeggies’ approach different is that it builds on a partnership between relatively small-scale “independent” growers with other sources of income and some access to capital and technology—its core members—and what it refers to as “small” growers with tiny family-operated farms, of which Mindanao has thousands. Working with more than 3,000 affiliate growers in two provinces, NorminVeggies now produces at least 12 different kinds of semi-temperate vegetables, which include iceberg and romaine lettuce, broccoli, cherry tomato, cauliflower, carrots and sweet corn. Through its “private-private” partnerships with these affiliate growers, it supplies bulk-buying clients in other regions in the Philippines with at least 70 metric tons of vegetables weekly, in addition to supplying more traditional markets in Mindanao. In the first quarter of 2011, the association shipped out 1,273,255 kilograms (or 1,403 MT) of assorted vegetables to various buyers across the country. In An Agenda for High and Inclusive Growth In the Philippines (2010), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) cited NorMinVeggies as a “model for facilitating the grouping of small producers to achieve the advantages that clustering offers.” The association’s experience was also highlighted in the World Bank’s World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development and at the ADB global food security forum in 2010. When a handful of enterprising vegetable growers in Bukidnon Province formed NorminVeggies 12 years ago, its members knew they were up against established farming competitors with access to more resources and advanced production technologies. But the fledgling organization was determined to address a major concern limiting the competitiveness of small farmers in the region: how to efficiently ship out their produce to markets, while maintaining quality and reducing post-harvest loses. “Our goal was to engage marginal farmers who had very limited financial resources,” relates Marcelino Remotigue, NorminVeggies president. Most smallhold farms operating individually had no guarantee their produce would fetch good prices, or at the very least break even. Local buyers explained they had to trim as much as 25 percent from the total weight of vegetable deliveries, to remove portions that were damaged during transport. And due to the lack of proper production and post-harvest techniques, such farmers found it difficult to produce vegetables that could meet the strict quality requirements of prospective institutional buyers. Remotigue recalls that small growers initially found it difficult to adjust to the system’s stringent protocols. But after a few months of trial and error, they began to realize the benefits of the innovative farming method. They were not only producing better quality vegetables; production volumes also shot up.  “I constantly reminded my members that if they wanted to be part of a cluster, they really had to strictly follow the system’s protocols,” he said. By combining their harvests, the growers are able to take advantage of economies of scale and negotiate for better prices with buyers. The group regularly fills large volume orders which are shipped directly to buyers across the country. “This way, the group is able to come up with a consistent quality and volume which is crucial to our buyers,” Remotigue said. NorminVeggies developed its value chain with the help of the U.S. Agency for International Development, through USAID’s Growth with Equity in Mindanao (USAID-GEM) Program. USAID-GEM also provided NorMinVeggies with training in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), improved post-harvest handling techniques, marketing and logistics assistance as the association developed and started to expand its operations. This assistance enabled the association to “break through” as a supplier to institutional buyers and markets, says Joan Cua Uy, NorMinVeggies vice president for marketing. The association now plays a vital role as a major service provider to the local vegetable sector by providing training to farmers, initiating market promotion activities, and organizing vegetable industry events. In 2006, the association, again with support from USAID-GEM, established the NorMinVeggies Consolidation Center, which serves as a centralized trading and consolidation area for the association’s produce. Over time, the center has evolved to become a supply chain manager that coordinates, for a fee, the interaction among the small farmers, buyers, and service providers, such as seed and logistics companies. “We see ourselves as growers who are also able to provide business development services for which other growers are prepared to pay,” Uy says. NorMinVeggies’ clients now include a major supermarket chain and a high-end hotel, consolidators for fastfood chains like KFC, and hotel and restaurant distributors.

MAASIM, Sarangani (October 29, 2011) – The staff of Bantay Bata 163 together with provincial and municipal social workers distribute food packs during the community outreach and Bantay Bata 163 Caravan 2011 at Blat, Amsipit Friday, October 28. Over 900 beneficiaries availed of the community outreach services from the villages of Blat, Lamlabong, Bual and Lamlait of barangay Amsipit.  (SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE/Bon-Bon Quiño)

Well Delight Network Corporation, a tuna processing firm based in General Santos City, recently obtained Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification with assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Anna Liza Samorro of TUV-SUD (far right), a German quality management firm and internationally-recognized HACCP certifying body, presents the certificate to (right to left) Well Delight President Jonathan See, General Manager Rock Eliseo, Director Emma Garay, and USAID-GEM Chief of Party Ross Wherry. HACCP, a preventive food safety system which focuses on limiting potential physical, chemical and biological hazards during food processing, is a key requirement in export markets. Food processing firms assisted by USAID to acquire HACCP certification, through its Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program, have reported significant increased sales which they attribute to the enhanced production systems and improved global market access resulting from their HACCP compliance and certification. The GEM Program is implemented under the oversight of the Mindanao Development Authority.