Already, Quezon Is The Chocolate Capital Of Luzon – But Quezonians Still Have To Use Their Coconuts!

“Quezon Province Seen As Emerging Cacao Hub In Luzon[1]” says the news release from the Department of Agriculture (DA.gov.ph). If you look at the image above, you will notice that a large number of people were present when Secretary of Agriculture William Dar spoke to the Quezonians led by Helen Tan, 4^th District Representative of Quezon Province, accompanied by DA Region 4A Director Arnel De Mesa.

Currently, cacao growing is being encouraged in 9 towns of Quezon: Atimonan, Calauag, Guinayangan, Gumaca, Lopez, Perez, Plaridel, Quezon and Tagkawayan. Appropriately, on 30 November 2020, Mr Dar led the inauguration of a chocolate production facility in Gumaca worth P1.5 million granted by the DA to the Four K Kakao Farm.

The same occasion saw the launching of a range of “Tangerine” chocolate products, and the distribution by the DA of cash and food subsidy to marginal farmers and fishers – double aids for families to help meet needs to surmount the ravages on homes and farms by typhoons in past months.

“Tangerine” is dark chocolate made by cacao farmers and members of the Kakao Integrated Development for Livelihood and Transformation, inspired  by Miss Helen, the “Chocolate Queen of Luzon.”

According to the DA, Mr Dar “lauded the skills, diligence and resilience of cacao farmers who are behind the success of the “Tangerine” brand, saying:

Binabati ko kayo mga nagtatanim ng kakaw sa pagkakaroon n’yo ng sariling brand ng tsokolate na maituturing na isa sa mga bunga ng inyong pagsusumikap na mapaunlad ang industriya ng kakaw.

(I congratulate you cacao planters for having your own brand of chocolate that may be seen as the fruit of your labors in advancing the cacao industry.)

Patuloy kayong magsumikap at ‘wag mawalan ng pag-asa dahil ang pagkakaroon ng pag-asa ay makakatulong upang umahon ang sektor ng agrikultura at ang bansa; magsilbi nawa kayong mga haligi sa pag-unlad ng bansa.

(Keep on striving and do not lose hope, because it is with hope that you will help level up agriculture and the country. I hope you will serve as lampposts for the country to move forward.)

As for me, a crusader for multicropping, I particularly note the DA news source saying:

(Mr Dar) advised the farmers to intercrop cacao under coconut, as well as Cardaba or saba and livestock, like cattle and goats, to earn more income and add value to their enterprise. “We must endeavor to make farming a profitable venture,” he said. “Farmers should be open to and adopt innovative ideas and technologies. This is our vision – to modernize and industrialize Philippine agriculture.”

More crops, more livestock. I have noted in years of reading and hundreds of days of Facebook browsing, that PH cacao farmers do not practice agroforestry, or do not plant their cacao along with trees that bear fruit as well as serve as nurse trees to the cacao seedlings. They do not value intercropping.

Agroforestry is multiple cropping – multiple sources of income.
The cacao farmers have to learn to use their coconuts too!@517

 

---

[1]https://www.da.gov.ph/quezon-province-seen-as-emerging-cacao-hub-in-luzon/?fbclid=IwAR2VGTGthHEsi0ogJV4SHMOIjmcbU3UBnXYVbhh4VO_XAqHtqdp83HskFBo