DA cites big potentials of agribusiness

By Jeehan V. Fernandez

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has attracted investors to venture into agribusiness, citing the potentials of agricultural production.

In an economic briefing hosted by the Iloilo Business Club recently, DA marketing and services representative Gregoria Santos gave businessmen the alternatives to which they could start their investments.

Noting the high value of coconut, Santos stressed there should be the establishment of tissue culture laboratory for fast propagation, integrated coconut facilities, and village-level processing facilities.

Santos also noted the processing of coconut by-products like coco coir or geo textiles, coco peat and commercial production of coco-diesel.

Meanwhile, she pointed out the putting up of nursery for good planting materials for cardava banana and tissue culture laboratories for the production of tissue-cultured plants. Likewise, she cited the commercial production of cardava bananas for banana chips and processing of banana into cereal products.

She also noted the development of new and better varieties of papaya, production of papaya-orchard and processing food and non-food papaya products.

With regards to aquaculture, Santos lured businessmen to put up milkfish and tilapia hatcheries, seaweed nurseries, production of tilapia fillet and processing of fishery products.

As to farming, Santos suggested the production of good quality planting materials, research and development to prolong shelf-life and availability of post harvest facilities in improving agricultural outputs.

The agriculture department has promoted the hybrid seed for rice production as well as the development of hybrid and indigenous rice and production of hybrid corn. “Domestic corn production is seen to be short of demand by at least one million tons each year,” it added.   

Santos also urged businesspeople to put their hands into the flourishing vegetable industry citing that the country's fast food chains, hotels, restaurants and supermarkets require a wide variety of high quality and consistent supply of fresh vegetables.

The DA has projected an increase in world demand for cassava estimated at 208.8 million metric tons in 2005 while in the Philippines , 80-85 percent of cassava produce is processed into dried, starch and flour for feed and industrial uses.

According to the DA, cassavas have increasingly become a major component of animal feed rations in the past 10 years. It recorded that roughly 195,657 metric tons of cassavas are utilized as feeds and not less than 30,000 MT of dried cassava chips are traded annually for local feeds formulation.