Focusing on food production

Several years back, the biggest instant noodle maker in Thailand launched the Mama Noodles Index, which essentially reflected the sales of its Mama Noodles. The index was reportedly relatively steady since Thailand’s recovery from the East Asian financial crisis that began in 1997. But it was in 2005 that a significant increase in noodle sales was reported. That increase, while seemingly indicative of greater purchasing power, was actually viewed as a shift in preference for cheaper food. Instant noodles were reportedly regarded as a more inferior food, and since people could no longer afford more expensive food, ramen purchases thus increased.
With its 88-million population, majority of which are in rural areas and live below the poverty threshold, the Philippines invariably remains a significant consumer of cheap food. Obviously, people must eat, no matter what, and poverty should not be an excuse for hunger. With this backdrop, and the brewing global food crisis, there is now a great opportunity for resource-rich areas like Central Luzon to again focus on food production.
Only recently, Filipino food exporters reportedly booked sales of about P400 million and also gained valuable information on the product and packaging trends in Taiwan during a business-matching activity in Taipei between Philippine and Taiwanese firms. A trade official was also quoted as saying that the Philippine delegation also met potential suppliers of processing and packaging equipment that could help make local food producers more competitive.
The delegation’s trip, under the Taipei International Food Show/Outbound Business Matching program, was a joint activity of the departments of Trade and of Agriculture, and the Manila Economic and Cultural Office. The Philippine contingent included 13 companies. The range of products that were promoted included tropical fruit juices, purées, dried fruits, coconut, dried milk powder, pasta, vegetables (e.g., asparagus, broccoli), ice cream, sauces/mixes and condiments, sweets, confectionery products, cookies, snack foods and food supplements.
More important than the sales they generated, a trade official said the event enabled the participants to gain first-hand information on the latest technologies on food processing, packaging and labeling. Also arranged were business-matching meetings with three major importers and distributors of food items and other products in Taiwan: the RT Mart, Far Eastern Group and Carrefour, which reportedly represent about 70 percent of the retail market in Taiwan.
Central Luzon, with its natural bounties, can choose to retool to meet the rising demand for food not only locally but also globally. There is no doubt the region can produce in abundance especially if the weather is cooperative, but obviously it requires plenty of government and private sector support, particularly for research and development, to gear up and shift industry priority to producing food instead of consumer durables.
Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija are large producers of grains, fruits and livestock. Nueva Ecija is even the center for carabao research, while Bataan and Zambales—and, to some extent, Pampanga and Bulacan—have access to aquatic resources.
In terms of logistics and distribution, deep-sea ports in Subic, Bataan and even in not-so-far Poro Point in La Union in the north, as well as international cargo airports in Subic and Clark make it easy for the region to ship goods to and from abroad as well as within the country. Even new toll roads to and from the Central Luzon region make land travel relatively easy north to south, or west to east. In addition, Central Luzon in itself is a large enough market for any cheap food alternative.
Key to success, however, is the region’s political will to rise to the challenge, and in large part, the willingness of capitalists and investors to pump-prime the regional economy by spending on research and development to find more efficient ways to improve farm and food production in the area. Once raw materials are in abundance, food processing and production is easy enough to push if only to generate employment not only in farms but also in factories.
Food, unlike other consumer durables, will never go out of fashion. And the country, and the world, will always be hungry and ready for cheaper but better food alternatives.