Philippine Avocado Has Big Export Potential

LOS ANGELES, Aug 18 Asia Pulse - The Philippines green-fruited and purple-fruited avocados have a big export potential worldwide, especially in the United States.

In the US today, avocado is sold at a very high price even in so-called Farmers Markets which are supposed to offer cheaper fruit and vegetable products raised by farmers.

Avocado in the US is not only marketed as a fruit as what is being done in the Philippines but actually as a vegetable which is used in salads and food offered at home and at restaurants.

According to a report from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), the Department of Agriculture (DA) of the Philippines reported that in 1990-1997, the country had a total area of 4,753 hectares planted with avocado.

Average annual production was estimated at 45,864 tons.

Leading producing regions of the country are the Cagayan Valley, Central Visayas and Southern Tagalog, while the leading producing provinces are Bohol, located in Central Visayas and Isabela, Nueva Viscaya, Quirino and Cagayan which are located in the Cagayan Valley.

In terms of area planted with avocado, Bicol is the leading region, followed by Cagayan Valley and Southern Luzon.

The FAO report said most regions of the country, however, have low productivity since avocado is grown mostly as a backyard tree or as a component of a mixed orchard with little or no care at all.

In many countries, specially in the US, Philippine avocado is quite preferred because it tastes so good.

Since avocado is not considered a major fruit in the country and is planted mostly in backyards, the FAO report said only a limited amount of planting material is being produced in a few government institutions and private nurseries.

Planting materials may come in the form of grafted plants or seedlings for rootstock use.

Government agencies, such as the Bureau of Plant Industry of the DA and the University of the Philippines (UP) Los Banos, particularly the National Seed Foundation and the Department of Horticulture, produce a few hundred grafted plants of locally available varieties.

Small private nurseries, which also sell sexually propagated avocado plants, are a good source of seedling different rootstocks for propagation, the report said.

Seedlings grown in the nurseries are heterogeneous - each seedling different from another- even though the seeds may have come from one variety or only from one parent tree.

The report said the commonly used and preferred method of large-scale propagation is grafting.

Other methods of propagation which are sometimes employed are inarching and shield budding.

In the Philippines, the report said, the marketing of avocado involves two very simple systems.

In the first system, the farmers bring their harvest to the market together with other farm produce such as banana, root crops, chicken and sell these directly to the consumers.

In this way, they obtain a higher price for the avocado fruit, but not much really if compared to those sold in other countries like the US.

It is also being sold though middlemen, locally called comprador, who buys all the avocado fruits from the farmers at a lower price and sells them in the market at a higher price.

The report explained that the middleman generally dictates the farmgate price since he bears the transportation cost.

Under the present nature of small-scale and backyard avocado production, where the volume of production is small, the farmer prefers to sell his produce to the middleman.

According to the report, avocado production is for the local market as there is still no export operation at present.

Thus, export of avocado is a big potential for generating dollar revenues for the country.

Until today, many still ask how avocado was introduced into the country when it is a fruit that had long been growing in Spanish-oriented countries like Mexico.

The report said at the end of the 19th century, several plant species were introduced into the Philippines.

These came from different parts of the world and included fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants.

Some, it said, proved to be valuable and easily adapted to the Philippine conditions while others were less promising and did not gain a wide acceptance among the populace.

One of the introductions which proved to be suitable to the Philippine soil and climatic conditions was the avocado.

It said this is known as aquacate in Spanish and alligator pear, Midshipmans butter and avocado in English.

It is called as abokado in the Philippine vernacular.

It was introduced into the Philippines in 1890 by the Spaniards through seeds coming from Mexico.

But it was only from 1902 to 1907 that avocado was introduced successfully into the Philippines by the Americans.

Through the Bureau of Agriculture (now Bureau of Plant Industry which is under the Philippine DA), planting materials were received from Hawaii, Costa Rica and the United States.

In 1913, the Bureau of Agriculture, together with the College of Agriculture of the UP Los Banos, started the countrywide spreading of avocado tree.

Now avocados are found growing all over the country, most of which are cultivated in backyards.

Since avocado is known to be one of the most nutritious fruits in the world, it has a bright future for development of bigger avocado farms that can raise products that could be exported to other countries.

All that the country needs is government help in providing better production technology coupled with improved post-harvest and processing technology for the development of the crop.

(PNA)