To help create better market opportunities for pineapple farmers, the I-PLAN team of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) Regional Project Coordinating Office (RPCO) IV-A conducted series of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) for the Value Chain Analysis (VCA) of Pineapple last May.

Value Chain, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is the full range of activities to bring product or services to markets. The VCA, meanwhile, focuses on creating value along the chain as well as the rational distribution of benefits among participating players (farmers, traders, processors, and consumers) of the industry. It also traces the movement of the commodity across the Value Chain.

“This will ensure that the future of agriculture in the region (and the whole country in general) will be on sure footing and is derived using science-based tools such as E-VSA and commodity prioritization,” Ms. Maria Ella Cecilia B. Obligado, RPCO I-PLAN Component Head, said.

The group conducted KII with pineapple farmers from towns of Pililia, Tanay, and Rodriguez and city of Antipolo. During the course of interviews, the participants were found to be supportive and cooperative on creation of VCA for pineapple as well as the whole project itself. Through the discussion itself, it was found that each municipality and city of the province must designate a high-value crops coordinator for citation and analysis of data.

Data validation and FGD were also done for pineapple. Another activity conducted is the data validation for banana, mango, and pineapple. Conducted in two separate schedule, eleven municipalities were visited to map farm areas and update data matrixes for respective commodities. While every town kept records, not all of them are updated. Thus a new matrix was suggested to be accomplished and will be treated as their own official record. The team offered assistance in updating their records.

Some issues raised during KII and FGDs are related to input provision/supply (i.e. lack of farming implements), production (i.e. integrated pest management), post-harvest operations (i.e. insufficient farm to market roads), marketing (i.e. weak marketing system and linkages), processing (i.e. insufficient trainings), enabling environment (i.e. low capitalization), and research, development, and extension (i.e. low adaptation of new technologies). These problems can be addressed through PRDP and other agencies with similar services (i.e. DA, DOST, DTI).

The target completion of VCA for pineapple is by the end of June. It will also be used in updating and mainstreaming of Provincial Commodity Investment Plans (PCIP) for Rizal. Aside from pineapple, two commodities such as mango and banana are priority for the province. ### (Lawrence Albert A. Bariring, PRDP RPCO 4A InfoACE Unit)