Organic food farming | Photo by Lance Cheung/USDA via Wikimedia Commons
The healthiest people I have ever met are the upland Aeta farmers of Zambales. In Cabangan, I met Jun Garcia and his wife, Maria. They are sustenance farmers living off what food they grow and selling any surplus in the local market. They have six children and say they are neither rich nor poor. “Our lives are simple here, peaceful, and surrounded by nature. We never go hungry, and we have no sickness in the family,” Maria says. They grow their own organic vegetables, fruit, corn, and mangos and raise free-range chicken. They live a healthy life without diseases like stomach illness and diabetes.
Living close to nature, surrounded by trees and streams, and without an internet connection, they are free from the social and moral negativity spread by the Internet and social media. They have a radio, and their children go to school. They are not rich but are not poor either. Like their neighbors, they live in a simple house made of bamboo and grass roofs but are not poor. They are improving their income due to expanding demand for their once unsaleable pico and Indian variety mangos. This demand in the export market for organic mangos and bananas is growing, earning them high fair-trade prices with the help of the Profairtrade Development Enterprise.
Now, the farmers want to sell their bananas to make organic banana chips for export but cannot because Philippine government regulations and bureaucracy do not allow them to buy 30 sacks of regulated white organic sugar. Is that because the farmers and PDE are too small an enterprise? The EU wants Philippine-certified organic banana chips.
Hopefully, the ever-helpful and efficient Pablo Luis S. Azcona, the Sugar Regulatory Administration administrator, and his team will come to their rescue, advised and inspired by the vigilant and helpful Assistant Secretary Atty. Agaton Teodoro O. Uvero of the Philippine Fair Trade Group (FTG) will help promote fair trading for small producers. I will tell you how later.
Juan and Maria are among the 562 members of the Profairtrade Development Enterprise that helps the Fair Trade Organic Farmers Association in Zambales. Together, the farmers delivered 81 tons of fresh pico/carabao mangoes this harvest. After processing the mangos in the factory in Bulacan, 41 tons of EU-standard-certified organic mango puree were exported to Germany. They say it is the only EU-certified organic mango puree in the Philippines.
The mangoes were irregular in size, scratched, stained, and not sweet tasting, but they were great for processing in the Bulacan plant and making organic mango puree. This turned the low-value fruit into a high-priced puree. Likewise, the farmers harvested and delivered 31 tons of the normally unsaleable “Indian” mango variety. These were also processed into organic puree and exported to Germany.
“Germany and the Netherlands imported the most organic products in 2021. The future of exports to the EU will have to be organic. This is a great challenge to the Philippines as the EU is getting ready to pass new laws demanding more fruit imports to be organic.”
These 562 Filipinos, mostly Aeta farmers, have successfully maintained a land area of some 50 kilometers by 20 kilometers free of chemicals and certified organic by Control Union, an international certification agency. These simple but hard-working farmers contribute greatly to the Philippine economy.
The German importers and customers are now waiting anxiously and impatiently for the Profairtrade farmers’ organic banana chips. The trial order of 10,000 packages has been placed with Profairtrade Development Enterprise (PDE), and these cannot be produced and exported because there is no available organic white sugar in the Philippines for small-scale producers to buy. The export order will be lost, jobs canceled, and perhaps there will be a loss of confidence in the Philippine government. This will not happen because it is challenging for the ever-alert, aware, and helpful Pablo Luis S. Azcona of the Sugar Regulatory Administration. The challenge for Pablo is to help PDE find a way to buy 30 sacks of white organic sugar for the project.
If the ever-helpful Assistant Secretary Atty. Agaton Teodoro O. Uvero of the Philippine Fair Trade Group (FTG) will respond and assist farmers in selling their bananas; we can produce the organic banana chips before the order is canceled. The office and team of Atty. Agaton Teodoro O. Uve will protect the small-time producers of banana chips from discrimination and give them access to white organic sugar, which the Philippines does not produce, unlike India. Then, there will be hope for social justice and fairness for the small- and medium-sized producers to make and export their products.
The long-term future of the European Union market is for organic food production. A search of the internet revealed that total imports of organic agri-food products in the EU have increased from 2.79 million metric tons in 2020 to 2.87 million metric tons in 2021 (+2.8%). The EU remains a major importer of organic agri-food products,
Germany and the Netherlands imported the most organic products in 2021. The future of exports to the EU will have to be organic. This is a great challenge to the Philippines as the EU is getting ready to pass new laws demanding more fruit imports to be organic. The demand for coconut milk is increasing also. Suppose any coconut corporation in the Philippines has EU-standard certified organic coconut milk/cream for sale. In that case, a standing order for 40,000 330ml tetra packs is waiting to be fulfilled. This is a test order for the German market that will surely grow. If there is a supplier interested, please get in touch with this column: shaycullen@gmail.com.
Let’s do all we can to help Filipino coconut and banana organic farmers and lift the poor to a healthier, more prosperous life through fair trade and justice.
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