Breadfruit Grows Wild In PH But We Miss P2.4-B Market

Breadfruit, locally known as “Kolo” or “Rimas,” is native to the Philippines and other Pacific Islands but it is Canada, a temperate country, which on record is the biggest supplier in the $2.4-B international market.
How and why the Philippines missed out on this opportunity to take a share of the huge international market of a product that is native to the country is a stark reminder of how poor we are in market research.
Coming close to Canada as a major Breadfruit exporter is Malaysia while the Philippines is not even included in the list of exporters.
The story of the Breadfruit and our failure to cash in on a native product is just one of the sad tales of the failure of our planners to look more closely into the richness of our resources and finding ways to develop these.
Instead, we have embraced the colonial culture of embracing and patronizing everything that is imported.
Our “Milagrosa” rice variety is now marketed by Thailand as its Jasmine Rice and our two sweetest fruits, the Philippine Mango and the Philippine EViARC Jackfruit variety acknowledged as the world’s sweetest failed to make it big in the International market.
During my short stint as Agriculture Secretary, I called for a more aggressive marketing campaign for Philippine products abroad, especially our Cavendish Bananas, Pineapple, Mango, Jackfruit and others.
The marketing of these products had been largely a private sector effort with very little government support.
In the many international marketing events, the Philippines displayed mainly novelty products like Banana Chips, candies and the likes which have very limited market and stiff competitions.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) should take the lead in identifying market demands and promoting our products while the DA should look into utilizing the National Food Authority as the marketing arm of our agriculture sector overseas.
As for the Breadfruit, given the huge demand in the international market and the impact of promoting the propagation of this endemic species to our “Re-Greening” Program, the planting could start now.
In five years, we could be a major producer for the simple reason that “Kolo” or “Rimas” is an endemic species and will definitely thrive well and produce more.
We need a lot of common sense to lift our country economically and our people from poverty.
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
(This article was first posted in this page in June of this year.)