A US company involved in the production of food colors and flavors has expressed interest in engaging Mindanao farmers for the commercial production of Butterfly Pea, popularly known as “Blue Ternate.”
The Corporation through their Philippine consultant sent the letter of intent through my email two months ago but I did not give it much attention because of previous experiences where new products are introduced and the buyers disappearing later.
The persistence of the consultant, however, led me to form a technical team from the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) to check on the viability of the project.
The buying price is very enticing from my perspective as a farmer but as a leader and agriculture advocate, I would like to handle this new project with caution.
While I have already checked the legitimacy of the Corporation, I wanted to validate other variables.
Among the things I would like to know are:
1. At what altitude and what type of soil would Blue Ternate grow well? I have seen a lot of growing Blue Ternates. In fact, I have one in my farm but nothing much had been known about it.
2. What is the production volume of Blue Ternate flowers? They offer a good price for one kilo of dried Blue Ternate flowers but I would like to know how many kilos could be produced from one hectare.
3. What is the volume requirement so that based on the production volume per hectare, we will be able to determine how wide an area should be planted to this new crop.
To establish the answers to these variables, I have decided to offer a 5,000-square-meter portion of my farm in Kidapawan City to be used as their demonstration farm.
I have agreed to let them use my area for free and I would even provide pressurized irrigation and fertigation facilties for the project.
Yesterday, I personally plowed the fields and asked the staff of MinDA to take aerial shots of the area so it could be posted on Google map.
While I am excited at the prospects of introducing a new product with a ready market for the farmers of Mindanao, I would like to exercise prudence and ensure that the farmers will get a good deal.
We have enough of many failed novel agricultural products in the past, from Passion Fruits to Jatropha Oil.
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
(Photos of Blue Ternate and the demo farm area were taken by the MinDA Media Team.)
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