The government must shell out at least P4.088 billion over the next four years to bankroll interventions that will increase local banana production and maintain the Philippines’s status as one of the leading banana growers in the world.
Based on the initial draft of a new roadmap for the banana sector, the government must set aside P2.541 billion for the proposed Cavendish industry action plan. It also calls for the allocation of P741 million and P806 million for the lakatan and saba industry plans, respectively.
The action plans for the three banana varieties outlined interventions that will expand and rehabilitate plantations that were affected by Fusarium wilt and improve yield and quality and reduce wastage through the establishment of post-harvest facilities.
The banana industry roadmap, which will cover the years 2022 to 2025, is part of the various commodity roadmaps being finalized, revised and updated by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Its goal is to ensure that Philippine bananas and banana-derived products “consistently meet world quality standards with good productivity, sustainable production practices, thus ensuring economic viability for its stakeholders.”
The draft blueprint was presented during a recent meeting with stakeholders and experts to finalize the roadmap. The DA has set the deadline for all commodity roadmaps on September 27.
Under the draft roadmap, the government aims to maintain the annual output of 55 metric tons per hectare for Cavendish and increase yield per hectare by 2 percent annually the for lakatan and saba varieties.
It also calls for increasing production area by at least 1 percent per year for Cavendish and lakatan and 0.5 percent year for saba.
Under the roadmap, the government will increase the global market share of fresh bananas and value-added products, such as banana chips and banana flour, by 3 percent.
The goals and targets of the draft roadmap include improving productivity-related infrastructure and post-harvest facilities in the banana value chain as well as the establishment of banana research and development structures and systems.
It also calls for expanding areas planted with Cavendish to 89,690.70 hectares by 2025 from 86,191 hectares recorded last year. Saba plantations will be expanded to 189,897.96 hectares from a baseline of 186,147 hectares and lakatan plantations to 63,437.3 hectares from last year’s 60,962 hectares.
The road map indicated that Cavendish output should increase to 4.935 million MT (MMT) from 4.743 MMT last year.
Saba production is expected to rise to 2.659 MMT from a baseline volume of 2.505 MMT while lakatan production will expand to 1.002 MMT from 925,403 MT, according to the draft blueprint.
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