Enhanced profitability of selected vegetable value chains in the southern Philippines and Australia program

Component 1
This report presents a summary of the first year's activities of the contracted ACIAR Project HORT/2007/066/1 "Integrated soil and crop nutrient management in vegetable crops in the southern Philippines". This Component forms a section of a large multidisciplinary Program (HORT/2007/066 'Enhanced profitability of selected vegetables value chains in the southern Philippines').
The aim of this component is to develop integrated soil and crop nutrient management in vegetable crops in the southern Philippines and Australia to facilitate more profitable and sustainable vegetable production.
The key objectives underlying this aim and progress against meeting these objectives are summarised below;
The key objectives underlying this aim and progress against meeting these objectives are summarised below

No.
Objective
Progress against stated objective
1
Define current soil fertility status and management practices
Participatory Assessments and targeted soil survey completed (Sept '08 - Feb '09). Key findings:
i) Growers identified lack of capital and high fertiliser prices as a key constraint to production.
ii) However, evaluation of soil fertility and current fertiliser and nutrient management practices suggests growers are undersupplying some nutrients and oversupplying others, leading to nutrient imbalances in the soil.
iii) Consequently, it is not an issue of lack of capital but an issue of more effective allocation of limited capital (fertiliser) resources.
2
Develop more productive nutrient management systems for vegetables
Research program has been developed and implemented in May/June 2009 with a strong focus on developing fertiliser strategies which are based on supplying the most cost-effective method of supplying the nutrient requirements of target vegetable crops. This is based on the outcomes from the Participatory and Soul Assessments.
The Australian component at the NSW DPI's Centre for Recycled Organics in Agriculture is also yielding valuable information on the longer term benefits of applying compost for improving crop productivity and soil quality in vegetable production systems. Recent results are demonstrating that the compost treatments yielded up to 89% more capsicum than conventional practice. Moreover, soil carbon concentrations in the compost amended soils are up to 50% higher than conventional practice.
3
Promote adoption of management practices best suited to local conditions.
Training activities based on the outcomes of the assessment and field research activities are scheduled for the latter stages of the project. However, a key dissemination activity was performed by Dr Chris Dorahy who presented a Plenary Address at the 12th Annual Philippine Society of soil Science and technology Conference in May 2009.
4
Enhance capacity building of local staff to promote and develop more sustainable and profitable vegetable production.
The key capacity building activities for Partner Country collaborators have been the Inception and Research Methods Workshops in July 2008 and March 2009, respectively.
In addition more than 100 farmers attending the workshops which were facilitated by Partner Country Collaborators during the Participatory Assessments.
Leading farmers are also involved in undertaking the 5 research trials which are currently underway.

Component 2
VSU site
Protected cropping structures have been designed and built at the VSU site and farmer sites at Cabintan and Maasin. At the VSU site, there are four "house" type structures, two built from coco lumber and two from bamboo. All are covered in UV-resistant plastic, two have trickle irrigation and plastic mulch installed, and two use bare soil and hand watering.
There are also two low tunnel structures at VSU, one covered with plastic and the other with fine netting. Tomatoes, sweet peppers, lettuce and cabbage varieties were evaluated for yield, quality and bacterial wilt resistance (tomatoes and peppers). Temperature, humidity and light intensity data was collected inside each structure and outside. Temperature inside plastic tunnels reached 46C compared to net covered tunnels where the maximum was 36C.
Pest and disease incidence both inside the structures and outside at VSU were monitored by Dr Mandras. The main pest problems were tomato fruit worm (Helicoverpa armigera) and diamond back moth, and the most damaging disease was bacterial wilt on the solanaceous crops. Excellent resistance to bacterial wilt was discovered in the tomato varieties Diamante and Atlas, and the sweet pepper varieties Emperor and Majesty.
An unexpected result was that solanaceous crops grown inside the structures were much less affected by bacterial wilt than crops grown outside. Inside the structures, growing crops on bare soil further increased resistant to bacterial wilt compared plants grown on plastic mulch, to the point where varieties + greenhouse +bare soil effectively controlled bacterial wilt in this experiment.
Yields inside the structures were significantly higher that outdoor production. For tomatoes, yields were double that of the outdoor grown crops and hybrid tomato yield 3-4 times higher than the local open-pollinated variety. Sweet pepper, lettuce and cabbage yield data has not yet been analysed, but based on visual indication, yield under protected cropping would have been significantly higher than outdoor grown crops.
Very strong winds in the first week of February 2009 nearly destroyed one of the bamboo structures at VSU so that it had to be supported, and blew the plastic coverings off all the house type structures.
Farmer sites
A bamboo house-type structure was built at the Cabintan site. Broccoli and cabbage crops gown under the structure produced yields of 5.8 and 3.6 tonnes/ha compared to 0 tonne/ha yields from outdoor-grown crops. The crops produced under the structure also showed a positive gross margin in the economic analysis.
Tomatoes were grown at the Maasin site, where a plastic-covered, bamboo house-type structure was built. At the time of writing this report, the yield data has not been analysed, but the crop grown under the structure was virtually disease-free compared to a significant alternaria infection on outdoor-grown plants. Based on the larger plants and increased fruit set, the crops grown under cover appeared to have a potential yield about double that of outdoor-grown crops.
Socioeconomic aspects
Two focus group discussions were held with farmers during the first year: one prior to the construction of any structures to provide baseline data for the project. That focus group discussion was also successful in soliciting ideas for structural materials and engineering design. It highlighted the interests of farmers in the concept but it is clear that farmers require a greater demonstration than they have currently observed regarding the financial and physical feasibility of the concept. Farmers verified that significantly higher prices can be achieved in the wet season, if crops can be produced. The second focus group discussion was held after crops had been produced. The main findings from the second focus group discussion were:
1. The protected structure design does protect crops and facilitates management activities;
2. There is impressive growth of vegetables compared to open field;
3. The potential irrigation problem due to lack of water in farmers' fields; and
4. The overall viability and performance of vegetables in the longer term is not yet proven.
Price analysis using secondary data confirms that a significant price premium can be achieved by growing vegetable crops in the wet season. Farmers, in general, are aware of this. A more detailed analysis will be undertaken later in the project using primary data currently being collected.
Price and cost data has been collected from VSU experimental sites and from the collaborating farmers. Under current husbandry practices at VSU, the profitability of production under the existing structures looks questionable. Collaborating farmers at Massin and Cabintan have had more success on this front, perhaps reflecting a more commercial orientation. (Yet care was taken at VSU to separate out the 'experimental' costs from the 'production' costs). A complete benefit cost analysis of the first season's cropping will be written up by August 2009. But it is already clear that the project should put greater effort into structures with a lower capital cost and preferably which can allow access to watering in a low cost manner.
Website
A project website has been built (www.protectedcropping.com). The site is intended as a showcase for the project, and as a platform for project team members to exchange files and information. It was designed in Australia and is administered by AHR, under direction from Dr Armenia, VSU regarding content.
Farmer training
The farmer training component does not form a large part of the project at this early stage. There has been significant input from East West Seeds. There have been offers of even more involvement which have met with some resistance at VSU. An important linkage has been created between this project and ACIAR project LWR/2004/078, based in Bohol in which Dr Rogers is a project team member. East West seeds are currently conducting a farmer field school there in vegetable cropping, and it is hoped that a similar program could be initiated in Leyte to teach farmers the latest skills in efficient vegetable cropping.
Australian Component
Jeremy Badgery-Parker and Josh Jarvis have provided some highly innovative and exciting designs for modular low cost structures which will be discussed at a workshop in Leyte in July 2009, and then hopefully built in farmer sites for evaluation under the project.

Component 3
The initial phase of the project has resulted in successfully laying the foundations for the future research and uptake of the project. All of the groundwork is in place to commence evaluation and analysis of potato varieties, soil amendments and microbial communities. Planned field trials for Ralstonia solanacearum bacterial wilt are ready to be planted in the Philippines, and pilot studies of Brassica biofumigation have commenced in north Queensland.
Additionally, isolates of bacterial canker, Clavibacter michiganensis (Cmm) have been sourced from international bacterial collections and are currently being sent to NSW DPI under AQIS restrictions. Isolates of Cmm from around Australia have been collected and are being examined for variations in pathogenicity, sensitivity to copper and molecular variation. Initial experiments examining the effect of disinfectants and heat treatment at reducing populations of Cmm have been undertaken and are showing promising results with very low levels of chlorine required to reduce Cmm levels to undetectable. Experiments examining the effect of plant defence activators on suppressing bacterial canker of tomato are underway and results are being analysed.
While staff changes have led to some discontinuity, this has been resolved.
Further information regarding bacterial canker is to be provided.

Component 4
A review of the institutional market in metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao for fresh vegetables has largely been completed. At the time of writing, the draft report, which is currently being edited, contains material from metro Manila, Bacolod, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Tagbilaran and General Santos. The reports on Cebu, Tagloban and Ormoc have yet to be written and research is still to be undertaken in Davao and Cagayan de Oro. No problems are anticipated in presenting the final report by the due date: July 31, 2009.
The market study has revealed considerable differences in the offer quality between the modern retail supermarkets, food manufacturers and processors, the food service sector and the needs of the traditional wet market. Furthermore, regional differences in climate and topography influence the range, the quality and the quantity of vegetables available from local producers, and differences in household income, tourism, transport and infrastructure shape both the institutional demand and the extent to which vegetables are traded between regions.
For the Visayas, while Cebu is not a major producer, it is the main distribution centre, importing fresh vegetables from metro Manila (Baguio) and Mindanao.
In much of the Visayas and northern Mindanao, heavy rainfall for much of the year makes it very difficult to produce good quality vegetables without protected cropping. However, there is little evidence of any price premiums being paid for fresh produce grown in a protected environment. With access to product from a number of alternative sources, product will readily flow into a market when prices rise as a result of shortages in domestic supply. Furthermore, when prices rise above that which the market is willing to pay, customers will substitute with canned product or simply drop the product from their menu. In other less mature markets, there is simply no demand for high value vegetables.
For the five star hotels and resorts, purchasing is highly sophisticated and driven primarily by quality and price. Product specifications are invariably used, which often differ for the same product, depending on how it is used. To become a preferred supplier, suppliers must maintain a consistent quality and deliver as promised.
Irrespective of the intended market, the more problematic fresh vegetables are the green leafy vegetables. For the executive chefs and resorts, a more reliable supply of gourmet (baby) vegetables and fresh herbs is required.
While adequate progress is being made to build capacity within the various cluster groups participating in the project, Catholic Relief Services have given notice of their intention to withdraw from the project on June 30, 2009. Their withdrawal is primarily the result of a significant reduction in their funding base and a desire by the Board to downsize and re-direct funds to other more needy countries. This will result in the four CRS field operatives being employed either by Advocates of Philippine Fair Trade Inc (APFTI) or the University of the Philippines (Mindanao). Irrespective of the outcome, there should be minimal disruption to the project and participating farmer groups. Capacity building activities continue to be delivered commensurate with each group's stage of development (as evaluated under the CRS Eight Step Agro-enterprise Development Handbook). However, activities in Miasong (South Cotobato) have been suspended since January, given the directive by CRS to reduce its agro-enterprise development activities in the Philippines. Due to the costs and security concerns, there is some doubt as to whether it will be possible to continue capacity building activities in South Cotobato. A decision will be made once it is known which NGO will assume responsibility for delivering the CRS capacity building activities.

Component 5
The activities and outputs for each component objective over the reporting period are summarised below;
Objective 1: To undertake an economic analysis of the value chain for the crops of interest in the ACIAR Program HORT/2007/066.
Glory Dee Romo (University of the Philippines Mindanao, UP Mindanao) and Leanne Orr (New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, NSW DPI) completed a case study showing how the team will undertake the initial assembly of price spread information for all fruit and vegetable crops relevant to both ACIAR Program HORT/2007/067 and this program. In this case study, a fruit crop, papaya, was chosen as the case study crop.
The UP Mindanao team (Larry Digal and Glory Dee Romo) prepared a draft marketing margin analysis for two vegetable crops in Mindanao; tomato and potato. Price transmission and net margin analysis were used to assess the performance (show any indication of inefficiencies) of the supply chains. The initial findings of the analysis show that inefficiencies exist in the supply chains of potato and tomato whereby changes to the costs of marketing are not efficiently transmitted or reflected in the price.
Data for the draft marketing margin analysis was collected by the UP Mindanao team from the Philippines Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) database and from interviews with participants in the supply chain, such as; farmers, wholesalers, retailers, farm labourers, storekeepers, transport labourers and service providers.
Objective 2: To estimate the profitability of HORT/2007/066 Program outcomes developed under Components 1 to 4 and to use this to measure the Component impacts upon Philippine vegetable industries and to enhance adoption.
Gross margin budgets have been developed by Leanne Orr (NSW DPI), Sally Bulayog (Visayas Sate University. VSU) and Sonny Domingo (Charles Sturt University) for tomatoes (Leyte, Visayas), cabbage (Leyte, Visayas) and potatoes (Bukidnon, Mindanao). For these crops in these growing regions, gross margin budgets were prepared for both farmers current practice (FP) and best practice (BP). FP budgets were largely derived from discussions with farmer groups and extension officers in the Philippines Department of Agriculture (DA). The BP budgets were assembled with assistance from a vegetables expert at University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB).
Leanne Orr and Tony Napier (NSW DPI) have developed gross margin budgets for a variety of vegetables grown in the MIA, Sydney Basin and Central West of NSW. Budgets have been developed for tomato (processing and fresh), potato (processing, winter fresh, summer fresh), cabbage, sweet corn (fresh and processing), lettuce and onion. These budgets are in the process of being included on the NSW DPI website for the use of both vegetable producers and vegetable researchers and extension officers.
The vegetable gross margin budgets were circulated to other component leaders in March 2009 for their use and feedback and were also loaded onto the ACIAR Program website (see references).
Objective 3: To identify any policy constraints that may affect the adoption of technologies developed by the Program, and quantify their impacts at the farm level, and some cases the industry level.
A draft study of policy issues for vegetables in the Philippines has been prepared by Dr Roehlano Briones (Philippine Institute for Development Studies, PIDS). It provides a picture of the current situation and identifies some potential areas of future research for the project. This policy project will be important in identifying regulation and monopoly power which will be reflected in the price spreads and may impede the adoption of technology at the farm level.
Preliminary whole-farm models have been specified for a typical upland, rainfed vegetable producing farm at Cabintan (Visayas) and as well as for upland and lowland rainfed and irrigated vegetable producing farms at Bukidon (Mindanao). The Visayas model is being developed by Dr Randall Jones and Leanne Orr (NSW DPI) with assistance from Sally Bulayog (VSU). Sonny Domingo (CSU) is developing the Mindanao whole farm model.
The models are based on a linear programming framework and is planned to be extended to a risk analysis framework so as to be able to help understand the constraints to adoption of technologies by Philippine vegetable farmers.
A number of other activities and outputs have also occurred for this program reporting period which have contributed to the achievement of the milestones set out for the Program.
A document has been prepared by Leanne Orr (NSW DPI) outlining where and how to access Philippine agricultural statistics of particular relevance to the vegetable program. The BAS website provides a vehicle for access to two groups of statistical information on vegetables in the Philippines. The first group is in the form of BAS statistics and publications available for download. The second group of statistical information is available via a link to the CountrySTAT Philippines website. The document is available on the ACIAR Program website (see references).
NSW vegetable production and value data has been extracted from Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) statistics by Leanne Orr (NSW DPI) and placed in a spreadsheet which has been loaded as a further program resource on the ACIAR Program website (see references).
There have been key activities involving coordinating and establishing the component team which have involved building and developing relationships between the Philippine collaborators and the Australian team members. Dr John Mullen and Dr Randall Jones (NSW DPI) have both visited the Philippines and met will program collaborators (finalised and proposed) to carry out this liaison and relationship building activity. There are two program collaborators with which arrangements are not yet finalised for their involvement in the program. This activity will be ongoing with the final number of Philippine program collaborators intended to be five; UP Mindanao, VSU, PIDS, SEARCA and BAS.

Component 6
After 12 months, the technical and management aspects of the project 'Enhancing profitability of selected vegetable value chains in the southern Philippines and Australia' are proceeding satisfactorily.
Summary of Technical components
Each component has provided a report for 2008-09 and these are attached.
Key points are:
Component 1: Soils.
Philippine growers have identified lack of capital and high fertiliser prices as a key constraint to production. Also it seems as though growers are undersupplying some nutrients and oversupplying others, leading to nutrient imbalances in the soil.
The Australian component is showing yield benefits of applying compost for improving crop productivity and soil quality in vegetable production systems.
Dr Anabelle Tulin received the 2009 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Philippine Society of Soil Science and Technology.
Component 2: Protected cropping
Protected cropping structures have been designed and built at the VSU site and farmer sites. At the VSU site the main pest and disease problems have been identified. Excellent resistance to bacterial wilt was observed in some tomato and sweet pepper varieties. Solanaceous crops grown inside the structures were much less affected by bacterial wilt than crops grown outside and yields inside the structures were significantly higher than outdoor production. At the Cabintan farmer site, broccoli and cabbage crops grown under the structure produced yields of 5.8 and 3.6 t/ha compared to negligible yield from outdoor-grown crops.
Component 3. Systems are in place to commence evaluation and analysis of potato varieties, soil amendments and microbial communities. Planned field trials for bacterial wilt are ready to be planted in the Philippines, and pilot studies of Brassica biofumigation have commenced in north Queensland.
In Australia, isolates of bacterial canker, (Cmm) have been sourced from international bacterial collections and isolates of Cmm from around Australia have been collected and are being examined for variations in pathogenicity, sensitivity to copper and molecular variation. Initial experiments examining the effect of disinfectants and heat treatment at reducing populations of Cmm are showing promising results with very low levels of chlorine required to reduce Cmm levels to undetectable levels.
Component 4. There are considerable differences in the offer quality between the modern retail supermarkets, the food manufacturers, processors and service sector and the needs of the traditional wet market. Furthermore, regional differences in climate and topography influence the range, the quality and the quantity of vegetables available from local producers.
For the Visayas, Cebu is the main distribution centre, importing fresh vegetables from metro Manila (Baguio) and Mindanao. In much of the Visayas and northern Mindanao, heavy rainfall for much of the year makes it very difficult to produce good quality vegetables without protected cropping. However, there is little evidence of any price premiums being paid for fresh produce grown in a protected environment. When prices are high customers substitute with canned product or drop the product from their menu.
Adequate progress is being made to build capacity within the various cluster groups participating in the project. However, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) will withdraw from the project on 30 June 2009. The four CRS field will still be part of the project.
Component 5. A draft marketing margin analysis for tomato and potato in Mindanao showed that inefficiencies exist in the supply chains of both crops whereby changes to the costs of marketing are not efficiently transmitted or reflected in the price.
Gross margin budgets have been developed for tomatoes and cabbage (both Leyte, Visayas) and potatoes (Bukidnon, Mindanao) using both farmers current practice and best practice.
A draft study of policy issues for vegetables in the Philippines has provided a picture of the current situation and identifies some potential areas of future research for the project.
Preliminary whole-farm models are also being developed and these will be extended to a risk analysis framework so as to be able to help understand the constraints to adoption of technologies by Philippine vegetable farmers.
Gross margin budgets have been developed for tomato (processing and fresh), potato (processing, winter fresh, summer fresh), cabbage, sweet corn (fresh and processing), lettuce and onion grown in three NSW regions.
Processes to find Philippine agricultural statistics of particular relevance to the vegetable program and vegetable production and value data in NSW are available on web2.
Summary of management component (6)
The key issue in 2008-09 has been administrative issues associated with payments to Philippine collaborators. These are now essentially resolved. Suggestions to improve the overall program and management are discussed in section 8.
Links are continuing to develop between the components and other stakeholders. Important challenges at present include utilizing as much present vegetable research and development capability as possible in the Philippines, determining if more training of staff who work directly with farmers is justified and continuing to seek commercial partners.