A colleague was showing me a box of Dubai chocolates.
Well, it’s technically called “pistachio kataifi chocolate” and is pretty much a chocolate bar filled with a mix of ground pistachios, tahini (sesame paste), and shredded phyllo dough. I point this out because this particular box of chocolates were actually manufactured in Ormoc.
I was surprised, although I really shouldn’t be, because this particular chocolate flavor has been recreated across the world, whether you’re a manufacturer or a home cook. It was nice to see a company from eastern Visayas take a stab at it, I thought. But then I couldn’t help but wonder how they sourced the ingredients for the product. It’s possible that the chocolate came locally: we have regions famed for their cocoa. They could’ve processed the chocolate themselves, or bought the finished product.
But do we grow pistachios in the Philippines? I’m not sure, so it’s likely that the ingredient was bought from an overseas supplier. The same perhaps went for the tahini and the phyllo dough – and yes, you can easily make phyllo dough, but it may be an additional expense the company did not want to pass on to the consumer.
If you look hard enough you will find that there are a lot of small Filipino companies that are producing unique products that make our pantries (and our dishes) more interesting.
One challenge for these companies, of course, is to crack bigger markets. But I have another in mind: can we make sure that their finished products are truly Filipino – meaning, apart from being manufactured here, that they are sourced from raw materials and ingredients coming from here?
This question may not apply to all products – but for those that do, the limitations of our agricultural value chains are clear. The supply of crops and produce, for instance, are regularly threatened by adverse weather – not just typhoons, but global warming in general.
Efforts to improve the productivity of crop yields may not be able to keep up with the ever-changing conditions they grow up in.
This also affects animal products, whether in their overall condition affecting the final quality of the meat, or in the ability to keep them healthy through a steady supply of feeds.
Another limitation is the seeming focus on selling low-level crops. For example, milled rice is great, but our farmers can conceivably transition to also producing high-quality products with their crop, adding value to the rice they plant and sell.
They don’t have to do it alone; they can partner up with companies that have the manufacturing capacity and know-how, as well as those with access to, say, flavor mixes and other ingredients. Think of how the Koreans have mastered “instant” rice and how the real thing is a common feature of their heat-and-eat meals.
But for this to happen, farmers should be exposed to the idea that they can do more with their crops than just selling it as it is, or with very basic processing. Only then can efforts to support them with machinery and other know-how bear better fruit.
Of course, another limitation is our high logistics cost. Apart from having a detrimental effect on the quality of the products as they are moved from farm to market – unless a robust cold chain is in place, of course – it forces farmers to settle for lower profits rather than focus on improving their goods and adding value to them.
All together, addressing these issues could not just combat the decline of the Philippines’ agricultural sector, but also bolster efforts at promoting Filipino-made products both here and abroad. In these times when a lot of a country’s soft power lies in its cuisine – and especially now as the country’s many cuisines are emerging with fans and advocates around the world – we should be able to take advantage and translate this interest into something that does not just benefit restaurateurs and media personalities, but also smaller businesses and farmers in the provinces, the very people in the frontlines of ensuring we are fed.
So, again, imagine those Dubai chocolates sourced entirely within the Philippines. Or better yet, how about a Filipino version of those chocolates, with our own cashews, for example?
Henrik Batallones is the marketing and communications director of SCMAP, and editor-in-chief of its official publication, Supply Chain Philippines. More information about SCMAP is available at scmap.org.
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