THE City Agriculturist’s Office will showcase products that are from cacao, like artisanal chocolates, during the upcoming Kadayawan sa Davao next month.
Edgardo Haspe, head of the office, said these products are the result of value-adding processes as he took note of the earlier season of fruits like durian, lanzones, rambutan and marang.
Before climate change, naa gyud na siya’y distinct na dry season every year. From the month of January to March, usually mao na siya ang dry season. Diha ma-stress ang tanom ug magmanifest og flowering. After that period, dinha na mag-start ang harvest starting sa July handtud na na siya sa October,” Haspe said.
He explained that the heat wave between February and March resulted in early fruit flowering, causing the harvest season to start in June as he noted that the height of the harvest season, particularly in the highlands, will be next month in time for the annual festival.
“Siguro kung dili na ta ka-showcase sa atong mga fruits, we can showcase our value-adding products like the cacao beans and our chocolates. We have a lot of chocolate processors in Davao City right now. Being the Chocolate Capital of the Philippines, we do have globally competitive processed cacao products and chocolates,” he said.
Production volumes of cacao and other industrial crops like coffee, rubber, abaca and pili nuts increased between 5,958.16 metric tons in 2019 to 6,802.45 metric tons in 2021.
Haspe said vegetable production in the city has also increased, from 16,272.94 metric tons in 2019 to 17,560.04 metric tons in 2021.
He said the lockdown during the pandemic has contributed to the rise in vegetable production in the city, especially in urban areas.
“Ang result sa lockdown is mas nitaas atong production sa gulay. Kay naa ma’y time nga ni-engage sa pagtanom ang mga tao. Instead na magtrabaho sila, lockdown man, so nananom na lang sila,” Haspe said.
