Promoting good agricultural practices (Gap) to enhance competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of smallhold Saba/Cardaba Banana growers

Abstract

© 2017, International Society for Southeast Asian Agricultural Sciences. All rights reserved. This paper presents an overview of saba/cardaba banana production in the Philippines, the existing practices of smallhold growers vis-à-vis the expanding demand for reliable supply of fruits complying with the quality requirements of buyers. Generally, the smallhold banana sector is not yet prepositioned towards certification despite the support and subsidy by the Government program for PhilGAP and Organic Certification. The authors posit that shifting of smallhold banana growers from traditional to compliance to either of these standards, if not certification, is an important strategy to sustain the country’s competitive advantage in the export market, to propel inclusive growth in the local banana industry sector and increase income and profitability of smallhold farmers. Realizing the optimistic potential of the local banana sector to increase fruit supply to feed the growing demand of both fresh and processing markets calls for a transformation of small hold banana farms into viable enterprise that is profitable, resilient, competitive, and sustainable aligned with the standards of the international market. These objectives are interconnected and need to be considered holistically. Proposed strategies to effect this shift, using already available technologies, approaches/strategies and lessons from past and on-going projects, and the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry’s (DA-BPI) programs to strengthen support and intensify the PhilGAP program are presented.

Source or Periodical Title

Journal of the International Society for Southeast Asian Agricultural Sciences

ISSN

8593132

Page

227-235

Document Type

Article

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS