Baguio City – To  support  the completion of  value chain analyses  (VCA)  of white potato and Ube (purple yam)  in the Cordillera,  stakeholders of these commodities  composed of  farmers, farmer-leaders, local organizations and private business sector representatives along with  local government unit representatives  from Benguet and Mountain Province  actively participated in  a consultation  held at  Rajah Soliman, Baguio City on October 29 and 30, 2015.

The activity was spearheaded by the I-PLAN Component of the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (DA PRDP) in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) headed by Ms Susan Balanza.

To effectively formulate value chain analyses, stakeholders’ active participation is crucial if not the most important factor, Ms. Balanza stressed in her opening remarks.

“We encourage all who are present to examine the data contained at the VCA already drafted and to  identify all constraints and possible solutions not present therein to arrive at the desired outputs as nearest to the truth as possible,” she added.

DA has previously identified white potato as a high value priority crop. It is also among the crops being developed for its industrial and commercial potential. Under the PRDP, white potato has also been identified as one of the priority commodities of CAR.

The Cordillera Region is the country’s top white potato-producing region, cornering more than 85% of production in 2014 or 119,140 metric tons from more than 6,116 hectares, according to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS).

Provincial statistics also show that Benguet Province is the top producer of white potato throughout the country with more than 89 metric tons of production in 2014, followed by Mountain Province with 12.195 metric tons of production in the same year.

On the other hand, the Ube (purple yam) industry in CAR is seen as having potential in local and foreign market due to high demand mostly by tourists.

Again, Benguet Province is the highest producer of ube in the region, contributing to 85.52% share in volume of production as per 2014 data from BAS.

New constraints and possible solutions following the value chains of these two promising commodities – from input provision, production, post-harvest, processing to marketing or seed-to-table approach were added during the consultations, but Miss Balanza assured the stakeholders that there shall be more consultations and interviews to follow to further validate and cull out additional data needed to finalize the VCA for white potato.

“Our meetings will not end here as there are still several processes to undertake to complete the VCAs for these two commodities, and we will be needing your inputs again when the PCIPs are to be drafted,” Balanza said.

The PRDP is a six-year program under the Department of Agriculture that aims to develop an inclusive, market-oriented and climate-resilient agri-fishery sector but considerably investing in priority value chains. (Mabel Zabala, RPCO-CAR InfoACE)