November 2009

FINAL REPORT

STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT
COOPERATION ASIA (SDCAsia)
61 Mirasol St., Tahanan Village,
Paranaque, Manila, Philippines
Email: mb@sdcasia.ph
www.sdcasia.org.ph

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
A.

PROGRAM SUMMARY

1.

Project Overview

2.

Project Areas

B.
1.

SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUTS/OUTCOMES

Stakeholders Workshops

15

2.

Strategic Planning/Short Term Action Planning

18

3.

Facilitating Chain Wide Consensus on Good Practices and Standards

20

4.

21

5.

Facilitating MSEs Access to Resources that will Enable Them to

Participate and Undertake Upgrading
Promotion of Interfirm Cooperation

6.
C.

Cardava Snack Smart Promotion

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS/IMPACT

46

1.
2.

Performance Indicators
Impact Assessment

50
51

33

A. PROGRAM SUMMARY
1. PROJECT OVERVIEW
Management of banana farms in the Philippines is
characterized by dichotomous nature. On one side
is a highly managed cavendish banana consisting of
commercial plantations, which take up about 10%
of the total land area planted to banana. The
remaining 90% of the banana areas are small
family cardava farms. The Banana Agri-Chain
Competitiveness Enhancement (B-ACE) project is
focused on the cardava banana.
The goal of the B-ACE project was to increase the
competitiveness of the cardava banana industry
while promoting broad-based growth that involves
and benefits the poor consisting of farmers and
micro enterprises in a sustained way. The project,
which was implemented from 29 September 2006
to 28 September 2009, worked on strengthening
three value chains:

Jumbo Sizes: Manila/Fresh Banana Export

Banana chips for the export market

Cardava banana snack food and dishes sold
via street vendors, school canteen
operators, and restaurants
Fresh cardava banana for Manila market
and, lately, for Japan

The decision to work on the three chains was

aimed at balancing the demand and supply of
cardava banana throughout the year, and
consequently, the stabilization of incomes of
players particularly the MSEs and small
landholders. The diversification of market channels
helped MSEs to manage risks. The upgrading
strategy of the project involved moving MSEs into
progressively higher-value markets in small steps,
with specific attention to quality standards, process
and
functional
upgrading,
and
win-win
relationships. Interventions were focused on the
following competitiveness issues:
a) Promotion of win-win relationships
b) Improvement of capacity and capability to
comply with quality and food safety standards
c) Productivity and efficiency improvements from
farm to processing
d) Product differentiation and diversification

Processed Grade: Banana Chips

Ripe/Small Banana: Street Snack Food

(introduction of organic/all natural banana, banana chips variants, expanded uses of

cardava, diversification of cardava snack food sold by street vendors/school canteen)
e) Functional upgrading (farmers taking up additional functions such as seedling nursery
operations, trading, first frying,etc.)
f) Market promotion with a focus on building demand for cardava snack food and dishes other
than the banana barbecue.
MSE upgrading and the
change process at the
firm and industry levels
are outcomes of a
learning
process
involving
multiple
players at many levels.
The upgrading and
positive
behavioural
change
process
required
complementary,
coordinated and indepth
contributions
from all who are
engaged. As such, it was
very important for
players to understand,
recognize, and strongly
identify with the goals
for upgrading to ensure that they have ownership of the process at the outset and will act on the
agreed upon measures. Players willingness, openness and active participation are essential
prerequisite to successful upgrading initiatives, and can be aided through engaged facilitation.
Likewise, because value chains are often characterized by adversarial relations, a significant
part of our efforts were focused on ensuring that benefits of cooperation for positive change
exceeded its cost. Our experience has demonstrated the importance of analyzing and
overcoming power differentials among and between players as they often work to exclude the
poor and micro entrepreneurs. Another theme throughout our process of promoting and
supporting upgrading was the need to make incentives and benefits for upgrading explicit and
transparent.
In the cardava banana industry, MSEs faced a number of obstacles in their activities to develop
competence and innovation. These included short-term business pressures, risk aversion,
limited ability to diagnose their own skills/competence needs, and limited access to both
financial and non-financial resources and sources of knowledge. They also lacked the necessary
competencies to manage innovation, particularly when it involves developing and maintaining
horizontal and vertical linkages. As such, activities aimed at facilitating upgrading, improvement
of quality of relationships, positive behavioural change encompassed three broad categories:
a) Inciting Action- Creation of the environment and impetus for upgrading;
b) Building-up of Business Models/Pilots Capacity building and demonstration of
viability (at specific points of leverage/focal points of change) ; and
c) Expansion of Outreach Crowding-in/Scaling-up of Upgrading Initiative.
Inciting action involved motivating players to pursue upgrading, setting the agenda for change,
and developing commitment towards the process. Once interests were raised, our activities

shifted towards assisting players to develop systems and mechanisms that would enable them
to acquire the skills and resources needed for upgrading. This was then followed by
interventions geared towards enhancing depth and/or breadth of the upgrading initiatives
based on project monitoring results and market assessments.
The following table indicates the diminishing role of the facilitator throughout the process and
the commensurate increase in ownership and activity of the market players.

Market Players

FACILITATORS ROLES

INCITING
ACTION

BUILDING-UP
BUSINESS
MODELS/
PILOTS

EXPANDING
OUTREACH/
EXIT

Creation of the environment and

impetus for upgrading

Capacity building and

demonstration of viability
(at specific points of leverage/focal
points of change)

Crowding-in/ Scaling-up of
Upgrading Initiative

M
A
K
I
N
G
I
N
C
E
N
T
I
V
E
S

V
I
S
I
B
L
E

Interest

Trust and Cooperation

Built-in Capacity to Sustain

Upgrading

2. PROJECT AREAS
The project was implemented in the following areas:
a) Southern Mindanao: Davao Del Sur, Davao Del Norte, Davao City, Davao Oriental and
Compostela Valley
b) Northern Mindanao: Bukidnon
c) CARAGA: Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur
A general strategy employed by the project was to start the implementation in an area where
there are progressive farmers and traders that can champion the change process and showcase

the benefits of change at a faster pace. As soon as some networks are established in the area,
the program gradually moves into the more remote areas and smallholders with cardava farm
ranging from 0.25 to 0.5 hectares. Spontaneous diffusion of initiatives and geographic reach is
generally confined within project areas and its proximity as well as the sphere of influence of
lead firms and traders. The decision and choice of expansion areas were significantly influenced
by the movements of traders and exporters in terms of raw material sourcing.

Figure 1. B-ACE Project Areas

Highlights on Selected Cardava Banana Communities

Sulop Davao del Sur
For participation in upgrading initiatives to pick up momentum and acquire depth, we
encouraged players to choose activities that revolve around areas of prime business interests
and those that led to realization of some short-term objectives. In many cases, new issues or
interest emerged as these activities were implemented successfully or to the satisfaction of the
players. The upgrading initiatives were sequenced in such a way that players can commit
themselves in stages to minimize risks and work out difficulties while proceeding on a micro
scale. As success is achieved, the groups shifted to more complex and higher risk undertaking.
Over a period of one year, the players gained trust and became comfortable in pursuing
upgrading initiatives together.

Incremental build-up of ownership and

commitment to upgrading initiatives by
exposing farmers to working together starting with simple activities such as
construction of fence, land preparation, etc.

Make shift packing shed for collective

marketing

Participatory
technology
development
(farmers, government extension officers,
community-based providers). High level of
farmer participation in decision-making
activities for extension priorities and
activities, resource allocation, etc.

In Sulop, the B-ACE project worked with a group

composed of agrarian reform beneficiaries who
were awarded land by the government. For many
years, these lands were unproductive. To motivate
farmers to make productive use of the land and to
collectively take up additional functions in the
chain, the project started with the promotion of a
communal farm which did not require significant
investments and skills upgrading. After some
months of good experiences, the group decided to
expand to cardava plantlet nursery operations and
mushroom cultivation. The nursery was in
response to the need for a reliable source of good
quality, pest -and disease free cardava plantlets.
The mushroom cultivation makes use of dried
cardava banana leaves. After a year of operations
of the communal model farm, the Sulop
community started their collective marketing. The
group is now in the final audit phase for Good
Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification.
For these ventures, the farmers took the lead in the
set-up of their experimental nurseries with
technical guidance from the B-ACE project team
and the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI). The
groups encountered failures with their first pilot,
but it seemed to have strengthened the learning
process, ownership of the ventures, and built the
confidence of the groups in their own capabilities.
Throughout the different phases that the groups
went though, the project assisted them in
analysing success factors and areas for
improvement. These initiatives also attracted new
members as well as encouraged inactive members
to renew their ties with the associations. It also
paved the way for the farmers to establish linkages
with buyers as well as get support and recognition
from the local government units (LGUs). Land
ownership certificates have been finally awarded
to the beneficiaries, which motivated more of the
members to partake on the programs of the
cooperative, especially the communal farm.

The pool of Sulop GAP trainors is increasingly

tapped by LGUs and farmers groups in
neighbouring municipalities to conduct training.
CIIF-MPC has gained popularity and credibility as a
promising cooperative, in Sulop and in Davao del Sur province. The cooperative is often
requested to host meetings and conferences and are invited to be resource speakers in different
municipal-wide events. They also receive guests from the national government agencies.
Saturday meetings/bayanihan sessions tackling various issues from pests and diseases, prices,
technology, and other issues have become regular activities in Sulop.

Malita Davao del Sur

From a not so significant supplier of cardava banana three years ago, Malita has reached the
level to be considered and recognized as source of premium quality banana. While other
cardava areas focus on production of processed grade banana for the banana chips industry,
Malita caters mainly to the fresh cardava markets in Mindanao, Cebu, Manila, and Japan, where
prices are 10% to 20% higher than processed grade banana. In various banana competitions
both within the region and nationwide, Malita has consistently won in the biggest
bunch/premium quality category.
The evolution of Malita as supplier of premium quality banana would not be possible to happen
without the win-win relationship that has been built between different players at the both
public and private levels. Mutually beneficial relationships between the public and private
sectors assisted municipal government to achieve their plans and targets, facilitate a supportive
business climate and, consequently, increase the revenue-generating potential of their areas,
while industry players are better able to run their businesses due to the improved business
environment promoted by the government. The private players participated actively in the
knowledge exchange activities such as GAP training events, contest and festivals where they
shared the results of their dedication and commitment as well as the good practices that were
applied to their farms. Conduct of competitions was very helpful in demonstrating viability,
feasibility, and the various upgrading options. The competitions also offer ways of sharing ideas
and constructing new forms of knowledge that can bridge the gaps in local knowledge. These
also provide the platform for the recognition of peoples knowledge and abilities which inspire
people to act and to share as well as enhance self-confidence. The festival, which was piloted in
Malita and replicated by various municipalities, is a powerful advocacy tool that creates
awareness about the industry among consumers and the general populace that attends such
festivals. These festivals, which are held at the municipal and provincial levels, have become
regular venues for players in the cardava industry to meet, discuss and learn from each other.
The competitions have been instrumental in bringing together communities and different
agencies to work together for the development of the industry.
It is also in this municipality that a private radio station in cooperation with a Malita banana
growers federation, and the Vice-Mayor (a banana cardava trader on himself) were able to bring
together the GAP training and knowledge updates into a radio program that promotes and
spreads out the benefits of applying adopted Good Agricultural Practices with cardava banana
as the focus. This radio program, which was launched at the end of 2007, is managed and
operated by the first batch of community based trainors trained on GAP by B-ACE and the
federation of growers.
A significant part of our tasks in Malita was focused in the identification and capacity building of
core people in Malita who are receptive to the change process and, in turn, catalyze growers and
other players in the locality to adopt the changes and in promoting fruitful interaction for
people to actively participate in the upgrading process. The project particularly recognized the
importance of analyzing and overcoming power differentials among and between players which
oftentimes work to exclude the poor and the micro entrepreneurs. Another common theme
throughout our process of promoting and supporting upgrading was the need to assist the
players and market systems to make visible, create, and reinforce incentives for upgrading. The
outreach that has been achieved as well as the level of inter-firm cooperation developed have
demonstrated to them the power of working together as chain, where one player would depend
in the performance of their peers as well as in the downstream and upstream players that used
to be perceived to be unfair. Through common efforts and fundamental investments in
upgrading, farmers from Malita are looked upon as sure winners of any GAP or best quality
cardava contest, whether local, regional, Mindanao or nationwide competitions. Even during the

last cardava festival day hosted by B-ACE to celebrate the successful culmination of the
project, Malita ended as the top winner in various competition categories.
Building on its reputation as supplier of premium quality banana, the Malita municipality in
collaboration with its pool of community-based trainors on cardava farming and banana chips
exporters is now in the process of diversifying into production of organic banana. The pilots,
which are being implemented without project support but following the same system
introduced by the program, cover 8 barangays/villages.

Napungas Davao del Norte

Mired in poverty and suffering from stagnant or negative economic growth, Napungas has been
very much prone to conflict. The area is home to former rebels and displaced people who
wanted to start a new life as peaceful citizens. The frequent skirmishes between the military
and the rebels were constant threats, in particular for communities near military and rebel
camps. Due to its remoteness, Napungas received very little assistance from government
extension officers. Limited economic capacity generated straightforward grievance effects;
government was unable to provide access to critical services such as education and health care
or access to economic opportunity and employment. Systemic poverty also implied limited state
capacity to make economic concessions that can buy off potential opposition groups. At the
start of the B-ACE project, yields of cardava farms in Napungas were far below the national
average.
The B-ACE program helped to ease tensions between groups by creating a sense of community
and commonality. To jumpstart the upgrading process, the project facilitated the development
of a pool of community-based GAP trainors (popularly known in the area as Cardava Doctors,
a testimony of the high regard of the community of their achievements and upgrading) which
can be easily accessed by farmers in the absence of the government agricultural technicians.
Although prior the project intervention they had had already failed experiences in farming,
trading with their cardavas, and collective initiatives, the training and knowledge-transfer
activities afforded them opportunities to get to know each other and provided the impetus for
the set-up of a cooperative engaged in collective marketing. The Board of Directors and initial
27 members, who were all cardava doctors, faced the challenge of sustaining the cooperative
and making the business profitable. The need for the group to experience short-term results
required the project to first focus on immediate market opportunities before moving on to
higher-value market initiatives.
The Napungas farmers cooperative during the first three months of operations sold the bananas
directly to banana chips processors-exporters but the high cost of transportation and logistical
expenses vis--vis their volume affected their profitability. To boost its financial viability, the
cooperative with the support of B-ACE then decided to forge alliances with traders that supply
large markets including Manila wet markets and first fry banana chip plants. This gave the
farmers a firsthand realization that cutting off the intermediary does not translate to better
profits at all times especially so if one does not have the economies of scale. A main advantage
that the cooperative gained in working with traders is that it eliminated truck rental and
logistical expenses as well as help in mitigating market risks as traders pay in cash upon pick-up
of product. The cooperative also receives additional incentives if they are able to deliver 4 tons
of fresh cardava.
With the growing business/trading, the cooperative was able to invite increasing number of
non-members to supply fresh cardava. These non-members eventually became cooperative
members. To date, the cooperative continues to attract new members. Likewise, it was also able
to gain the support and assistance of the local and provincial local government units.

The
cooperative
members
supplies
fresh cardavas to its
trading business. In
turn, they get a
patronage refund of
Php0.10 for every
kilogram of cardavas
sold
to
the
cooperative.
Aside
from
this,
the
members also enjoy
the dividend share
after one year of
business operations.
The
cooperative
keeps a record of
every
trading
transaction
and
shows it to the locals
for
transparency.
They
also
give
recognition to those
who are loyal. They
also use this strategy
to encourage more
local folks to join the
cooperative.

Samal-Davao del Norte

As an island, cost of transportation to the mainland where most of the traders and banana chips
processors are located is high. It was, therefore, necessary for the Samal cardava banana
industry to be able to ship out products from the island in the most economical way to be
attractive to buyers. This provided the motivation for the agrarian reform beneficiaries to
establish a first frying facility. The first frying facility is able to offer the same farm gate price
for fresh cardava as in the mainland. For farmers and local traders, these meant a 10% to 15%
increase in the net buying price. The establishment of the facility also triggered farmers
interest to upgrade their farms to be at par with market standards as well as facilitated the
revitalization of farmers groups. To date, 5 farmers cooperatives and three traders regularly
supply to the plant. The three traders take care of the collection of harvests from farmers not
affiliated with the five cooperatives.
The formation of horizontal relationships provided the necessary scale to attract support from
lead firms and the government. However, prior to initiating vertical relationships, it was
important for the B-ACE project to develop systems and mechanisms that will enable players
particularly the first fry facility and farmers to acquire basic competencies and capacities. The
strategy of building basic competencies of communities helped in overcoming or modifying
imbalances in bargaining power, the creation of the necessary conditions for enhancing trust,
and in reducing perceived risks (by lead firms) in investing and working with communities.

10

Likewise, when players were given the opportunities to develop the skills they needed in
making the transition or implementing some aspect of change, they developed an increased
sense of confidence. After hope, confidence is one of the most important factors that will enable
players especially the micro enterprises to cope with change and to negotiate with people that
they have always perceived to be higher in the social ladder.

SARBEMPCO:
supplier of fresh
cardava

SAMAL DAIRY:
collector of
banana
peel/waste - for
organic fertilizer

SISCOFA: lead in
GAP
training/supplier
of fresh cardava

SIARBCO
FIRST FRY
FACILITY

BANANA CHIPS
PROCESSORS

BABAK MPC:
transportation
services including
delivery of
cooking oil

KANAAN MPC:
supplier of fresh
cardava

Horizontal and vertical

linkages anchored on the
first fry facility

Pantukan Compostela Valley

Pantukan was among the early champions for collective initiatives anchored on partnerships
with the local government unit, lead firms, and the cardava banana communities. The growing
profitability of the community first fry facility cum fresh cardava trading, particularly during the
2nd year of operations, attracted local investors.
The community, particularly the top
management of the cooperative, allowed investors to put in significant capital in anticipation
that these would boost the business. However, after some time, the community was gradually
eased out of management and decision-making functions. With the cooperatives relegated and
treated as workers rather than owners, the collective initiative lost the support of the members
and the farmers in general until the operations stopped. The farmers started forming their own
supply chains and built alliances with various traders. The core group of the first fry facilities
helped other communities in starting their own plants. The project and the LGU cannot openly
intervene as it may result to violence and escalate tensions between the different factions given
the fragile peace and order condition in the area was very fragile. This experience has taught
us to be also very careful in promoting business success as this can also attract influential
people to use their power in taking control of the business especially in post-conflict
environment.

11

Dalesan Compostela Valley

Highlights:

A first frying facility for cardava was set up and the food handlers were trained on GMP and
first frying operations
A Trainers Training on Good Agricultural Practices for cardava farming was conducted;
payment schemes to sustain succeeding trainings of the coop based trainers came either
from outright payment or as an embedded service extended to farmer suppliers for the
cooperatives cardava trading operations
Facilitated meetings with processors to set up the cooperative as a direct supplier for fresh
cardava
Strategic Planning and other Organizational Development activities were conducted to
facilitate the formation of unified directions and ensure smooth transition between outgoing
and incoming officers
Brokered reconciliatory talks and between the cooperative and incumbent government
officials who were slighted during a recent election. Festive activities like cardava festivals
and GAP competitions, were also made a venue for the opposing parties to meet and
mutually support the neutral activities.
Hosted a cardava festival to gather, recognize and promote best practices in cardava
farming

Training the cooperative food handlers on banana chips first frying and Good Manufacturing Practices.

As a result of above interventions, GAP training is now regularly conducted among farmer
members and suppliers. Volume of good quality, fresh cardava production in the areas covered
by the cooperative substantially increased. This assured the cooperative a guaranteed share of
cardava supply, amidst other traders who have been sourcing in the area. While the

12

cooperative have been trying for some time to revive their cardava trading operations, this
development finally made it possible. While DALESAN used to sell fresh cardava to various
processors thru a consolidator, their move to directly and exclusively supply a lone processor
eventually rewarded them with better payment terms along with monthly volume incentives.
Three municipal councilors, all known allies of the incumbent government, were sent as
emissaries to join the recent Board of Directors meeting of the cooperative. The incumbent
officials, thru the joint meeting, have already earmarked funds totalling P 400,000, as additional
working capital for the first frying facility, aside from promising to be more involved with the
cooperatives affairs

Malitbog/Adjacent Communities - Bukidnon

Highlights:

Facilitated the organization of a municipal wide federation of organic cardava farmers, as a

response to the interest of a banana chips processor to export organic cardava banana chips
Conducted orientation on organic farming, and a trainers training on organic cardava
farming and Good Agricultural Practices
Provided technical assistance in the set-up of a first frying facility
Provided technical assistance to banana chips processing plant to improve compliance
towards food safety standards and to enable them to gradually shift towards the production
of organic banana chips. Facilitated meetings and discussions with organic banana chips
importer, processing plant, first fry facility, and the farmer groups to strengthen supply
chain relationship/governance.
Arranged meetings with buyers for fresh cardava and first fried chips, looking for both
conventional and organic cardava products
Annual banana festivals were organized as a venue to collect, recognize and promote best
practices in cardava farming

Discussions and meetings participated by processor, first fry facility, and farmers to improve supply chain
management and governance.

Barangay Organic Team, composed of 20 trainers, was organized to train all the cardava farmers
in the municipality on organic cardava farming and Good Agricultural Practices. The
organization of cardava farmers in the municipality, and the conduct of organizational and
technical capability building sessions for the members, made it easier for them to comply with
certification requirements, shortening the application process. A common service facility for
banana chips first frying, compliant with established food safety standards, was established by
the farmer groups with the support of the LGU. Informal supply contracts have been

13

established with farmer suppliers and the first fry facility, assuring the banana chips processor
with consistent supply of good quality fresh cardava and first fried banana chips. Cardava has
become a priority crop for nearby municipalities in anticipation of the increased demand from
the processing plant in Bukidnon and in response to the increase in farm gate prices for fresh
cardava. In response to the upgrading initiatives of the communities and, consequently,
productivity and quality improvements observed, lead firms from Davao and Caraga are also
providing value added services such as assistance in the organic certification process and
regular procurement of fresh cardava.

Agusan del Sur

One of the main interventions implemented in Agusan del Sur was the improvement of farm
productivity with a focus on reducing incidence of pest and diseases which was among the
priority causes of reduced yields.. GAP aligned practices was introduced in 3 barangays in the
Municipality of Trento from sourcing of disease free seedlings to good farm management
practices. GAP promotion was jointly supported by the Provincial and Municipal LGUs which
included the capacity building of Cardava doctors (42 farm based technicians), set up of low cost
Cardava Model Farms thru competition and the strengthening of seedling producers. To provide
continuous coaching to cardava farmers and to engage a provincial wide approach to GAP
alignment, the BACE program together with the Provincial Agriculture information Office
embarked on a radio program GAP on the air. This was a replication of the successful BACE
supported radio program in Malita, Davao del sur, Mauswagong Pagpanguma or Successful
Farming Practices. The BACE program provided technical assistance in the development of the
module while the provincial office shared the cost for the radio time slot. The weekly radio
program covers 6 Municipalities and 1800 direct farmer listeners/learners.
The program also replicated the Cardava Snack Smart Promotion Series in support to the local
market development of cardava based recipes to augment the fluctuating prices of banana chips
for export. The program tapped the Agusan del sur Women Federation (PLAKAT) as the core
group in the dissemination of the cardava based recipes to micro entrepreneurs, schools and
rural improvement clubs. To date there are 2700 women members engaged in micro kitchen
scale cardava cooking and retailing whether as a group or in their own individual households.

14

B. SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUTS/OUTCOMES

1. STAKEHOLDERS WORKSHOPS

Vision Per Player Group

Consolidated Vision: Whole

Industry

We in the government
fervently wish that good
relationships and support for
each other exist among the
key players in the banana

Thats right!, good relationship

together with sufficient supply of
high quality products will make
our industry successful and will
surely benefit us farmers.

What is really our dream for this

industry?...hmmmwe traders
envision a stable supply of products.

Yes, we processors
believe that sufficient and
stable supply of quality
products will make us
more competitive in the
world market.

B-ACE Stakeholders Workshop 2006

15

To explicitly and systematically engage participants in a collaborative process of reflecting on

the current and future state of the cardava industry including the identification of viable shortand medium term market opportunities, stakeholder workshops were conducted at various
points of the project cycle starting at the intervention design phase. The workshops promoted
dialogue and accountability among players as they realized their common interest in improving
the functioning of the chain and identifying effective interventions. Since industry was very
fragmented and people were wary on talking about relationships for fear of negative
repercussions (e.g., buyers will stop buying, farmers will not sell their products to them),
stakeholders workshops for each group of actors were conducted prior to holding one
workshop on competitiveness strategy formulation with all of the players represented.
Stakeholders workshops changed relationships and behaviors by achieving the following:
a) Facilitating self-realization of how actions and performance affect other players in the chain:
During the first stakeholder workshop, this was done via a workshop entitled A Portrait of
My Relationships with Other Players, in which the participants indicated via a drawing
and smiley faces their perceptions and feelings on key relationships. Drawing/diagramming
and visual construction facilitated information sharing and collective appraisal. For many
people, construction/drawing of visual images was a non-threatening exercise and offered
ways to break the ice in initial contacts. It was also particularly useful for working with
people who do not read or write confidently. In subsequent stakeholder workshops, this
was carried out through focus group discussions on burning relationship/supply chain
governance issues.
One major threat to the
banana chips industry is its
price competitiveness and its
ability to maintain quality
particularly for large volume
orders. Importers generally
switch suppliers between
Philippines and Thailand
from time to time primarily
due to price and quality
considerations. Feedbacks
indicate that Thailand is
becoming preferred supplier
in terms of price and
reliability. This particular
comics
frame
made
participants realize how they
have contributed to eroding
price competitiveness of the
chips and that passing on
their losses to buyers was a
losing strategy which did
not address the roots of their
problems.

16

b) Sensitization of VC Actors on Roles and Contribution to Improving Chain Competitiveness:

Cardava value chain participants were generally unaware of how their actions affected the
businesses of other players and the overall competitiveness of the value chain. Given that
the project operated in post-conflict areas and the cardava industry was comprised of
players of different ethnic groups with deep rooted mistrusts, antagonism, and/or
indifference, it was necessary for project to be cautious in presenting relationship issues in
such a way that it would not provoke defensive reactions and escalate tensions. As such, the
project used comics to present the bottlenecks in the chain and cause and effects of actions
of players in addition to the presentations of findings of the series of value chain analysis
conducted throughout the project cycle. Players found the presentations non-threatening
and, at the same time, made them see in a vivid way how inefficiencies at one link in the
chain can affect the performance of all players along the chain. The comics broke the ice in
initial contacts and participants started to laugh in amusement as they identified with the
characters and the situation presented. During the workshops, entrepreneurs tended to
group around issues (problems and/or opportunities) that they had in common.
Participants said that they had seen more clearly and in a more positive mindset that some
of their problems were linked to others and went on to explore ways in which these could
be addressed.
c) Participatory development of an industry vision: Each group of value chain actors defines its
respective vision (see table 2 below for an example), which then forms part of the collective,
industry-wide vision. In the definition of the vision, players are encouraged to include a
statement on the quality of relationships. The vision also recognized healthy self-interest, as
this provided the motivation for collaboration.
d) Promotion of upgrading vis--vis economic/business objectives: Generally, participants in the
cardava value chain were not enthusiastic about upgrading. However, players were
generally open to information on issues that significantly affected their income generation
potentials. A good understanding of the factors and interests affecting the various links in
the chain and the transactions which occur between them helped the project in positioning
or aligning the promotion of upgrading initiatives to priority issues that players can readily
connect with. Being able to speak the language of the industry and discuss on a practical
level their priority issues helped in maintaining the quality of the participatory process and
in building rapport and trust with the different players. By contextualizing the benefits of
upgrading to player specific priority issues, various participants at different points on the
value chain were encouraged and motivated to work together.
The focus group discussions revealed the following issues: a) Widespread disincentive
among cardava farmers because of low or declining income from cardava farming due to
productivity issues and post-harvest losses; b) Widening supply gap for fresh cardava
affecting the operations of traders and capacity utilization of processors/exporters.
Productivity enhancement through Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) was identified by the
project as the most appropriate strategy. However, farmers were not keen on adopting GAP
since farmers generally grew the cardava with minimal to zero care.
To gain farmers interest, promotion of GAP was focused on reducing pest and disease
incidences as this was the major cause for decreased income identified by the growers. To
make the potential benefits evident to the growers, the project guided the growers in
calculation of costs and benefits of current practices (including losses from pests and
diseases/poor quality) vis--vis proposed low-cost solutions. To get the support of lead
firms and traders, discussions were focused on how GAP can contribute to addressing the
severe supply gap of cardava due to entry of Manila based cardava traders in Mindanao.
While lead firms and government were advocating for more farmers to plant cardava
(consequently, increase in land area devoted to cardava), the project presented how

17

compliance to GAP can increase productivity by at least 25% to a maximum of 100% while
improving the quality of produce in a shorter time frame. Though not all of the traders and
lead firms were initially committed to be involved with the project, this was the first time
where lead firms/traders concretely expressed their commitment to work with growers.
They personally chose which strategies/approaches/activities they were willing to
participate in, and with whom they were comfortable to initially partner.

Starting with Burning Issues

Pest and Diseases Management as

entry point for GAP as this was a
burning issue shared by majority of
farmers and also affected
operations of other players.

Transect walk to heighten sense of

urgency to address widespread
incidence of pests

Quick demonstration of low cost

solutions including calculations of
potential increases in yields if pest
and disease incidence can be reduced

2. STRATEGIC PLANNING/SHORT TERM ACTION PLANNING

An important role that the project played in inciting action was to provide analytical skills to
assist stakeholders identify the causes behind the constraints and opportunities and propose
the solutions that may not be apparent. The cardava players knew their environment and
circumstances better than anyone, but in many instances the causes of many of their problems
were not evident to them. Even after defining the problem, players neglected to think beyond
the obvious symptoms or the deeper issues that were causing the problem. Low productivity,
for example, was almost always associated by farmers with a lack of money to buy fertilizer
which was, in turn, attributed to inconsistent and allegedly unfair pricing of traders and lead
firms. To facilitate change in mindset, the B-ACE project conducted a short overview of factors
affecting price and supply and demand trends in cardava supplemented with joint conduct
(project team + key progressive and influential farmers) of informal interviews prior to conduct
the workshop on root cause analysis of constraints experienced by farmers. This simple
exercise helped the farmers to realize that: a) low productivity was caused mainly by poor
sanitation and pest and disease management practices rather than the lack of fertilizer; b)
exporters are also governed by fixed price contracts (6 months to 1 year) and fluctuations in
price of coco oil and the exchange rate significantly affect their price offer capacity for cardava;
and c) not all traders and exporters are bad and, in the same way, not all farmers are good.
Based on our observations that upstream players generally plan and survive on a day-to-day
basis, we decided to pursue short-term action plans. The groups were initially assisted in the
development of a three-year vision, with a detailed three-month period action plan. These plans
were designed to result in tangible short-term outcomes and benefits.
Especially for newly formed and resource-poor groups, the project encouraged them to start
first with planning simple collective activities that they can implement immediately. At this
stage, our main objective was to get the players involved and excited to work together on

18

something relevant and to build skills for collective planning and decision-making. The project
had experiences where groups that began with relatively resource-intensive and complicated
upgrading initiatives were never able to take off as they were bogged down with financial and
resource constraints or resulted to the exclusion of the majority who did not have the resources.
One community wanted to immediately pursue functional upgrading through set-up of a
commercial scale first fry facility. The initiative never took off as the group had difficulties in
accessing the needed financial resources. The more successful upgrading initiatives that started
with planning of simple tasks such as joint procurement of better quality inputs or community
participation in a Biggest Cardava Bunch Competition which mainly entailed searching for
progressive members to represent the group. Successful implementation of these initial
activities improved self-confidence and encouraged planning of more complex activities such as
the set-up of collective trading and GAP alignment of farm practices in collaboration with
traders. Action planning also included identification of target markets. For instance, in
initiatives such as collective trading, the groups started with selling collectively directly to the
local public market (wholesale prices, less discriminating in standards, no minimum volume
requirement). As they moved forward both in their collective planning and improving product
quality and yields, the groups started planning penetration of bigger markets such as the
banana chips exporters and the Manila market.

VISION
Ang Napungas Banana Growers MPC, usa
na ka malambuon, nagkahiusa ,
nagkasinabtanay, ug ligdong na
kooperatiba sa mga manananom ug
saging sa Napungas, nga nagadumala ug
malungtarong negosyo sa hinusa na
pagpamalit ug pagbaligya sa dekalidad na
produkto, mapadayonon sa paghatag ug
benepisyo og giya sa haum nga
teknolohiya sa pagpanguma, giniyahan sa
padayon nga pagpalambo sa kaseguruhan
sa panginabuhian sa komunidad,
pagprotekta sa kinaiyahan, inubanan sa
tabang ug panalangin sa Labaw nga
Makakagahom.

The Napungas Banana Growers MPC, will

become a progressive, united and strong
cooperative of cardava growers in Brgy.
Napungas, that manages a sustainable
business in collective marketing and
trading of quality fresh cardava,
continuously provides benefits to its
members guided by the application of
appropriate farming techniques,
environmental protection, with the
guidance of the Holy Being.

19

3.

FACILITATING CHAIN WIDE CONSENSUS ON GOOD PRACTICES AND

STANDARDS

Value chain upgrading is a

collaborative undertaking. In many
cases, the value chain upgrading
strategy requires several fields of
actions that have to be dealt with
in parallel by different chain actors.
Because each attribute of the
finished product originates from a
particular point in the chain, the
effectiveness of the entire supply
chain is essential to the final
products success in the market.
Food safety and quality, for
example, are principally assured
through the combined efforts of all
the value chain participants.
Communication along the supply
Drafting of Good Practices
chain is essential to ensure that all
relevant food safety hazards and quality defects are identified and adequately controlled at each
step within the supply chain. This implies recognition, understanding, and interactive
communication of process and product standards among and between downstream and
upstream players in the chain.
To
improve
the
governance of quality
along the cardava value
chain particularly at the
community level, the
project facilitated the
development
and
implementation
of
quality standards with
the stakeholders taking
the lead. In establishing
the GAP standards for
cardava farming, for
example, the project
conducted a series of
roundtable discussions
with
representatives
from farmers, traders,
processor/exporters,
government agricultural technicians/extension workers, commercial plantation managers and
input suppliers. Generic templates from previously drafted GAP facilitated by SDCAsia for other
crops were presented as reference. The stakeholders collectively identified best practices that
ranged from: those that have been generally accepted in the industry, trade secrets in farming
that were previously unknown to majority of the players, indigenous practices that have been
handed down from generations, and results from field studies/researched conducted by
agriculture extension workers, input suppliers and research students. The result was a fasttracked process of coming up with GAP standards and recommendations specific for cardava

20

farming that is representative of the knowledge, expertise and experiences of all stakeholders.
Farmers no longer feel being imposed upon when the trader or the processor describes his/her
quality standards; the former now regards this shared information as valuable market
information. This is mainly because the players appreciated the contribution each of them
made towards identifying the common standard market requirements. They also immediately
experienced the corresponding benefits and advantages of being always aware of these
standards. Transaction costs were lower, as traders and processors had fewer rejects in fresh
cardava and conflict/tension associated with different understanding and interpretation of
standards was reduced.
The same process was followed by the project in drafting the food safety and quality standards
for banana chips and food service operations of cardava snack vendors and canteens.
Government agencies mandated to enforce food safety regulations were also active participants.
In the development of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the first fry facilities,
guidance was provided by the project team with inputs from the lead firms.
To further promote a unified understanding of standards and appreciate the benefits of
standards compliance, the project encouraged lead firms and traders to open their plants to key
suppliers and community-based catalysts to see the full procurement and production process,
and thereby demonstrate the effects of bad-quality cardava on the final product. Parallel to this,
lead firms were encouraged to visit community production sites to understand their conditions
and limitations and, subsequently, to provide suggestions on basic upgrading.

4. FACILITATING MSEs ACCESS TO RESOURCES THAT WILL ENABLE THEM TO

PARTICIPATE AND UNDERTAKE UPGRADING
The process of diversification
and
upgrading
demands
financial
resources
and
increases short term risk of
micro enterprises and most of
all they have to undertake
substantial behavioral changes
in their livelihood strategies.
Positive outcomes of such
changes are also not seen
immediately
resulting
to
abandonment of the process.
Likewise, lead firms are more
inclined
to
work
with
communities and take on the
tasks of educating their
suppliers
if
they
have
demonstrated the capacity to
enter and maintain vertical relationships. In searching for ways to promote the participation of
the poor/micro enterprises in upgrading initiatives, the project found it useful to think in terms
of a continuum along which the latter are progressively building up their capacity and capability
to act on market opportunities.
Upgrading initiatives started with introduction of efficiency and quality enhancements to
improve income generation capacity of micro enterprises in end-markets that they were serving
or were most accessible to them. With improved incomes from their current markets,

21

communities were able to earn

some surplus to invest in
upgrading. This also provided
the time and practice to meet
requirements
of
bigger
markets such as the banana
chips exporters and the Manila
Market.
The project then
gradually moved towards
facilitating the access of
communities to services that
would enable communities to
develop a set of product
differentiation factors that
they can introduce and sustain
as a marketing proposal. BACE
also
solicited
the
involvement of buyers and
various market players during
the development phase of the
services so as to ensure that
these were aligned to market
requirements
and,
thus,
accelerate the build-up of
capacity of communities to
gainfully participate in more
lucrative and bigger markets.
With majority of the household
enterprises located in remote
areas and the limited outreach
of
government
extension
officers,
the project
facilitated the development of
an indigenous communitybased capacity to develop and
provide services related to
cardava farming and first fry
facility operations.
The
Business
Development
Services (BDS) system is built
on existing trade/marketing
structures to facilitate the flow
of services and learning to all
players in the community
supply chains.
Under the system, a pool of trainers consisting of innovative farmers, traders, and MSEs in the
communities are identified and trained to deliver training services and handle typical technical
and business concerns of farming households and first fry operators. The project worked
towards strengthening local networks and the sense of mutual obligation or community
among traders/lead firms and farmer groups. In promoting embedded services, the BDS
development and delivery via business linkages was and continue to be presented in the context
of improvement of the whole business operations Likewise, careful calculations were made to

22

ensure that BDS delivery did not undermine profitability of business operations of both the
value chain-based providers and the micro enterprises. The challenge for the project was to
identify these progressive individuals at the community level and how to motivate them to
improve their capacities and capabilities in order to provide sufficient support to their peers as
a means of improving both their incomes. Rather than cutting the traders out of the value chain,
the project worked on improving trade relations between growers and traders. The more
successful learning communities and upgrading initiatives facilitated by B-ACE were those
undertaken with the strong support from key intermediaries in the locality.
As soon as the first batch of providers was set-up, B-ACE project team stepped back in actual
delivery of services and focused more on further building the capacities of providers through
on-the-job coaching, benchmarking, and cross training. Trainers training in expansion areas
was handled by providers in pilot areas. The cross-trainings proved to be a very effective way of
rapidly disseminating good practices including adoption. Farmers seem to trust more on peers
accounts of lessons learned as well as in identifying modifications needed for practices to be
suitable to their areas. The information exchange did not only focus on the training topics, but
also on the different schemes, training arrangements and field experiences that have been
proven to be successful in the trainers areas.
Visits to better performing groups were also organized for farmer groups in expansion areas to
create a positive atmosphere and reduce doubts and inhibitions among stakeholders, as
negative attitudes were often picked up through secondary sources and did not have a factual
basis. The exposure visits facilitated faster and deeper validation among new entrants of results
of upgrading initiatives of peers which influenced to a significant extent their vision and action
plans. The visits also made the groups appreciate their strengths as well as discovered ways on
how they can mitigate their weaknesses (group, environment/agronomic conditions, etc.).
Exchange visits and benchmarking triggered players desire for change, propelled them into
action and encouraged innovation, mutual support and appropriate local solutions, thus leading
to greater ownership and sustainability.
Capacities and skills of community-based providers are also showcased during competitions
and demonstrations organized by the project in collaboration with partner organizations (e.g.,
LGU, cooperative, etc.). The project found it more effective to actually demonstrate the skills of
the providers and show tangible proofs such as exhibits of their products during local events to
stimulate the demand for services. The model farms were also effective promotional tools for
the services and the
providers.
Building on farmers
habit of listening to
the radio after a days
work, the project also
supported
the
establishment
of
interactive
radio
programs
that
promotes
participation via SMS.
The radio programs
are
owned
and
operated by the LGUs
in partnership with
cardava
farmer
groups. These low-

23

cost interactive information services reduce feelings of isolation and improve information
transparency. The radio program also facilitates access to technical and market information that
enables players, particularly MSEs, to monitor and adjust to dynamic market conditions and
make informed decisions. In cases where on-air advice is not sufficient, the anchors (who are
also part of the pool of Cardava Doctors - community-based providers) or the most accessible
Cardava Doctor conduct on-site visit and consultation. The interactive radio programs helped a
lot in drumming up interest on the various services particularly for cardava farming technology.
Providers and even the project get leads for potential clientele based on the volume of SMS
senders and the type of questions received.
The
project
also
invested
in
the
identification
and
capability building of
potential catalysts at
the different levels
(functions) of the
value chain to lead the
change process among
their peers as well as
to
help
us
in
establishing projects
legitimacy
in
the
industry. Depending
on local conditions, a
catalyst
at
the
community level may
be a cooperative or
trader. In the selection
of
catalysts,
an
important aspect that was taken into consideration aside from having resources and
skillswas the presence of a clear business purpose (e.g., needing a stable fresh cardava supply
base, seeking to increase cost efficiencies, etc.) rather than philanthropy-driven initiatives to
ensure a medium- to long-term commitment. During the course of project implementation, it
was observed that influence of some of the community-level catalysts were not deep enough to
move people into action. In such cases, we also tapped the municipal government agriculture
and/or trade offices or the Office of the Mayor to act as a co-catalyst. The involvement of the
local government legitimized the initiative, drew in other participants and provided resources
that can accelerate the upgrading initiative (e.g., farm-to-market roads, land for common service
facilities, etc.) Getting respected industry players and other relevant stakeholders (e.g., service
providers, government) involved at the earliest time possible was also key strategy we used to
build momentum in upgrading/change initiatives.
Project also strengthened capacity of local government extension officers to provide support to
the community-based providers. At the start of the project, the SDCAsia conducted an
orientation on the value chain approach for the different government agencies involved in the
cardava banana industry. Subsequently, the project invited government agencies to participate
in project activities and incrementally assigned them specific responsibilities in partnership
with SDCAsia project team members. Joint implementation of tasks afforded mutual learning
opportunities for the project team members and the government extension officers. In all
activities related to the set-up and development of community-based BDS system, the project
collaborated with the local government units (LGUs). In majority of the project areas, the local
government has allocated some budget as well as incorporated in their work plans the

24

conducted of cardava related training and support to collective activities such as first fry
operations, trading, and communal model farms/nurseries.
The project also made it a point to involve media in various activities particularly in the
dissemination of technical and market information and in highlighting successful initiatives and
innovations. In order to go beyond mere reporting of project activities, preference was to work
more with talk shows, cooking, and agri-technology information programs, or the television
news magazine shows. Project investment was mainly on helping the scriptwriters in coming
up with an interesting storyline and in coordinating location shooting. Communities and local
government units usually provided the food and cultural entertainment during the
recording/interview or shooting. Likewise, it has always been a source of pride for
communities to be featured in radio or TV program series. The wide coverage given by the
media on the Cardava Festival helped a lot in accelerating its replication in different areas.

25

Good Agricultural Practices

26

Highlights:

Consolidation of best practices in cardava farming from indigenous practices handed down
across generations of farmers, research and development from government institutions and
the academe and contributions from industry stakeholders
Development of Manual of Good Agricultural Practices for Cardava Farming, compliant with
food safety and quality standards and responsive to market requirements
Training of community based trainers on Good Agriculture Practices to establish cardava
GAP experts in the farming areas who can provide trainings and timely advice for farmers
Establishment of model cardava farms demonstrating GAP implementation and showcasing
the latest technologies on cardava farming, including the conduct of fertilizer field trials.
Hosting of various levels of GAP competitions, with criteria starting from the simpler and
easier to implement GAP, and progressing to more challenging practices

Outputs:

GAP manuals specific for cardava farming were developed from the consolidated cardava
industry best practices; illustrated versions both in English and in Visayan dialects were
prepared to make them easier to understand
Farmer trainers were developed in major cardava producing communities
Training materials to aid the farmer trainers on teaching GAP were produced; aside from
the usual Powerpoint slides, videos were provided; presentation materials printed in
tarpaulin were also given to the trainers to aid them when they conduct trainings on farms
without electricity
Cardava Model farms were established to help farmers visualize the different ways how GAP
is implemented and the consequential benefits of GAP compliance
Awards and recognition were given to winner of the various GAP competitions; the
improvements and the benefits observed in their farms were promoted
Differences in growth and productivity were recorded for fertilized and non fertilized
cardava hills; with proper fertilization, productivity can be increased by up to 22%.
Increase in profitability higher than additional costs incurred.

Outcomes:

Due to the participatory nature of the manual development process, the stakeholders
exhibited significant ownership on the GAP manuals. They promoted it heavily among their
co farmers. They willingly paid for the manual production costs. The manuals, presented
in comic form, demystified GAP; facilitating self realization among farmers that GAP not to
be needlessly expensive, is grounded on common sense, and GAP compliance, though
mostly implemented incrementally, began immediately either after training or after
purchase of the manual.

The establishment of community based trainers resolved the common constraint of

limited coverage of government extension workers. Being trained by their peers made the
farmers very receptive to imbibing the principles of GAP. The training and consultancy
sessions between the farmer-trainers and their co farmers, while very informal in nature,
were very effective and were more appreciated by the participants, compared to the usual
trainings conducted in formal venues. This also built the confidence of the farmer trainers
not just on teaching about GAP, but also on implementing the best practices in their own
farms, in resolving production concerns with other farmers, and in dealing with other
stakeholders of the industry. These farmertrainers now have even begun to train

27

government extension workers and commercial plantation workers. They are now also
being hired by their respective provincial governments to train other farmers outside their
usual areas.

GAP implementation among the cardava model farms were collectively managed by the pool
of farmer trainers. It initially started as a learning center for GAP, where farmers can listen
and watch the trainers demonstrate how to comply with GAP requirements. The benefits of
which can also be readily observed in the model farms. With continuous improvements on
GAP implementation, pests and diseases have been virtually eradicated and productivity is
at record highs. The farms have progressed into a very profitable collective cardava
production enterprise.

The GAP trainings and promotional activities had spillover effects to other farmers and the
community. GAP evaluation tools like rapid field test kits became very important even
outside the cardava industry. Water PHC bottles designed to evaluate water quality and
potability are now being used by village health workers who previously had no means of
testing the villages water sources. Soil test kits to check for general nutritional deficiencies
in the soil were improved to become more affordable and more farmer friendly. Soil
nutrition programs can now be designed by farmers, for general crop farming.

Training

It was demonstrated that GAP implementation can lead to

increases in yield of up to 50%.

Rapid test kits developed to check
for farm soil and water quality 

On-site GAP training

28

Food Safety/First Fry Facilities

Highlights:

Participatory development of
training modules to facilitate
downloading
of
standards/practices to existing
and potential first fry facilities
and their workers. This was
done by engaging lead firms
and progressive first fry
community-based facility in
Malita to contribute to the
development of GMP cum First
frying module which included
production monitoring forms
and checklists. The module
was tested by the partner first
fry communities and validated
by the lead firms during the
coaching period.

Supported the build up of a

core group of trainers on GMP
cum first frying through
training and coaching and
promoted the services to
project expansion areas.

Through program supported

plant visits, lead firms have
provided technical assistance
to first fry communites in
maintaining quality and in
lending
additional
utensils/equipment to make
the processes more efficient.

Community based GMP providers have been training and assisting other cardava
communties in the set-up of first fry facilities such as the one in Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon
and New Bataan.

LGUs contributed to the upgrading of the processing facility (such as land and technical
personnel) as well as the provision of financial assistance.

Market linkage between first fry community and exporters.

Outputs

Developed banana chips first frying module and training materials.

29

Capacitated 5 communities
on GMP and first fry
production
(SIARBCO,
Pantukan, Dalesan, UFFAP
and Bukidnon farmers
Group).

Improved efficiency and

productivity of first fry
procssing of communites
by 10%.

Increased the number of

visits and negotiations with
lead firms to the first fry
communites.

Replication and set-up of 4

first frying communities in
Sta. Josefa, Quezon and
Maramag Bukidnon and
New Bataan in Comval. The
set-up of first fry centers
prompted cardava growers
to take up more functions
such as collective trading
thru buying stations and
sorting, as well as skills
upgrading (sorting and
peeling).

Facilitated market linkage

between
first
fry
communities
and
exporters.

Outcome:

Enhanced horizontal collaboration among cardava growers and the the cooperatives

Improved vertical collaboration between lead firms and first fry communites as the latter
has become more attractive for lead firms to work with.

Provided additional income to the community and cooperative members as owners of first
fry facilities and as workers and suppliers of fresh cardava.

30

DAVAO FOOD SAFETY TEAM ASSIST BANANA PROCESSORS

st

Members of the Food Safety team were trained by SDCAsia in the 1 USAID IGP project as part of the Young
Consultants Training Program and the capacity building on food safety for government agencies like DOST,
BFAD and DTI. In the B-ACE project, these trained providers (which organized themselves as the Davao food
safety team - DFST) were tapped in the module preparation of the GMP and HACCP in Banana Chips
Processing together with the Banana chips exporters technical personnel. To stimulate the demand for the
service, the project together with the Davao Food Safety Team (DFST) conducted an orientation on food
safety for lead firm owners and technical personnel. In the same venue, the lead firms were made aware
first hand of the existence of such local providers that initiated informal talks. The first engagement was the
conduct of 3 day trainings on GMP to exporters food handlers which later on evolved to become a long term
consultancy (3-6 months) to develop the HACCP system until the point of audit. B-ACE project provided
mentoring to the providers specifically in the definition of the banana chips export quality requirements,
arrangement for benchmarking to existing processing plants that are already HACCP certified and facilitated
initial negotiations between the providers and the exporters.
Davao City (2 July 2009) -- The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Regional Office No. XI's Davao
Food Safety Team (DFST) has assisted three (3) of the banana processors in the region. Among the three (3)
processors were Sagrex Foods, Inc., Tropical Synergy International and Koki Food International.
DFST conducted trainings on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control
Points (HACCP) for Sagrex Foods, Inc. (SFI). SFI is a manufacturer and exporter of frozen Saba banana
products based in Tibungco, Davao City.
DFST is committed to assist SFI in aligning its existing manufacturing systems to GMP and to facilitate
attainment of HACCP certification. SFI is also being assisted by DFST in the laboratory analysis of its products
such as: microwaveable banana, banana fries, and "turon."
With Tropical Synergy International, a banana chips manufacturer and exporter, DFST assisted in aligning its
procedures and plant facility to GMP. In 2008, a GMP Documentation and HACCP Training were conducted
for Tropical Synergy's management and employees. DFST is now focused on providing consultancy
assistance to Tropical Synergy's plant lay-out and design of its newly-constructed manufacturing facility in
Bunawan, Davao City. The review and implementation of the company's GMP plans are also being done.
Lastly, DFST has been assisting Koki Food International, Inc., a banana chips manufacturer and exporter
based in Padada, Davao del Sur in the improvement of its plant lay-out and its existing manufacturing
practices.
In January 2009, the processing plant was assessed by the DFST in terms of its compliance to basic food
hygiene and GMP. Subsequently, an in-house GMP training was conducted for Koki's food handlers and
employees. Since most of Koki's processes involve metal equipment (e.g. chipper, conveyor, cooling
machine), Koki employs a metal detector to effectively separate chips contaminated with metal shavings.
DFST continues to provide technical support to the banana processors to ensure food safety and high
quality of products. (DOST PIA XI)

HACCP
Rather than developing a single one size fits all provider", the program worked with a range of
providers in order to be able to match competencies and structures of different groups of
players at various links in the chain. Providers of food safety related services consist of
progressive farmers, vendors, traders and leaders in communities, graduating food technology
students, government technicians, progressive owners and employees of food processing
companies, and food technologists.

31

Facilitating compliance to food safety and quality standards also has served as catalyst for the
development of coordinated and well-functioning supply chains. Likewise, it also provides the
incentive for investment in upgrading of supply chains and the adoption of safer and sustainable
production and processing activities
Highlights:

Capability and capacity building of local providers on GMP and HACCP on Banana chips
processing

Participatory development of banana chips GMP and HACCP system modules together with
the lead firms and local experts. During the first year of the implementation, the BACE
project supported the continuing capability build up of local, Davao Region based providers.
These local experts were part of the previous BDS providers pool tapped and developed
during the previous SDCAsia IGP project on BDS market development.

Linkage between the supported providers, certification body (TUV) and the lead firms.

Outputs:

Developed GMP and HACCP

module on processing export
quality banana chips in
consultation with processors
and regulatory agencies.

Upgraded and trained local

providers and young
consultants who later became
part of the Davao Food safety
Team that was supported by
DOST.

Assisted 5 export companies

in developing a food safety
plans and plant lay-out aligned
towards a GMP and HACCP

2 companies invested and

completed the building of a
new processing plant
compliant to the food safety
standards and regulations.

Successfully linked 2 banana

chips exporter to the DFST for
HACCP system development
and professional consultancy.

1 company acquired and was

HACCP certified by a 3rd party
certifying agency, the TUV.

32

1 company is undergoing the final stages of a second party audit with a French buyer.

1 company is undergoing final stages of documentation in preparation for the audit.

Outcomes:

Local providers are now recognized as home grown professionals providing excellent
services to exporters. Based on the interviews with the exporters, there is now a heightened
appreciation and demand for the services of the food safety experts. Consultancy services
are paid by the exporters unlike 4 years ago when food safety assistance were seen as free
and expected from government agencies like DOST.

Trained local providers and previous young consultants were hired by the companies to
head their HACCP team and maintain the internal audit of the company. There is now
increased awareness on the need to have permanent technical persons within the company.

Interviews with the 3 companies noted that the services by the DFST were very satisfactory
and that their recommendations were followed by the companies until the point of audit.

Buyer of a banana chips exporter that stopped its transactions are again reviving and
gaining the companys trust due to the new systems installed and the certification they have
acquired. Another banana chips exporter has attracted a new buyer from France and the
company is now building the relationship starting off with opening their company for
inspection and second party audit.

5. PROMOTION OF INTER-FIRM COOPERATION

The project focused on evolving a more market oriented relationships among and between
chain players and in creating more equitable relationships in markets where buyers are more
dominant: Relationship building was carried out in four broad stages: a) Awareness and
Initiation to Collaborative Relationship; b) Inciting Action and Building the Foundation for Interfirm Cooperation : c) Incremental Promotion of more focused joint business-oriented activities;
and d) Monitoring and Iterative Planning.
Stages in Relationship Building and Corresponding Facilitation Activities
Stages
Facilitation Activities
Awareness and initiation
Promotion of common objectives among
industry players through stakeholders
To sensitize players to the need for
and importance of working together
workshops
To establish the rationale for
Initiation and/or strengthening of horizontal
collaborative relationships in the
collaboration to lay the groundwork for
industry
vertical linkages
To set strategic objectives
Facilitating the development of basic
competencies and capacities to link and be
To define positioning of
linked
microenterprises/communities and to
enhance their attractiveness
Inciting action and building the
Identification of catalysts for change
foundation
Promotion of a culture of information sharing,
To build trust and create confidence
learning and open communication

33

Stages in Relationship Building and Corresponding Facilitation Activities

Stages
Facilitation Activities
among stakeholders to depend on each Promotion of a common understanding of
other for business activities
standards and norms and accountability
To increase cohesion and get players
Stimulation of consumer interests to create
used to working together
the incentives for change
To make explicit the benefits of
working together
Incremental promotion of more focused
Establish pilots to assess the potential of
joint business-oriented activities
larger-scale and longer-term collaboration
To establish pilot vertical
Design, development and transfer of
collaborations
partnership assessment system and schemes
To further develop systems and
Acceleration of adoption of change process
governance structure
through use of a core group of champions and
To increase information exchange and
identification of a focal point of change
knowledge sharing
Reinforcement of stakeholders motivation to
pursue the change process through
recognition and tri-media promotion
Monitoring and iterative planning
Conduct feedback gathering as the basis for
iterative planning
To assess the change process and
evolution of relationships as the basis
for adjustments in strategies
For details and discussions of each phase, please refer to document FIELD APPLICATION OF KEY PRINCIPLES IN VALUE CHAIN
APPROACH: FACILITATING BEHAVIOR CHANGES AND TRANSFORMING RELATIONSHIPS (Idrovo/Boquiren/SDCAsia) --- USAID
Microlinks.

Values chain upgrading requires coordinated decision-making and action, which usually
involves different value chain participants. At the start of the project, most of the players in the
chain communicated only with those links adjacent to their own - growers with traders or
producers with importers. As such, there was a need for a social infrastructure that would
provide opportunities for industry players to meet and interact as a first step to building trust
which is essential in formation of collaborative relationships. Rather than forming new
coordination structures, the project built on local socio-cultural events and festivals as venues
for players to socialize in informal settings and on existing social networks such as informally
organized supply chains (traders and his/her preferred suppliers), community associations,
local development councils, etc. to make use of their existing governance structures and builtin constituency. In some cases, though, it was necessary for the project to form a new network
when existing groups were besieged with problems and orientation was difficult to align with
the project.
Socio-cultural Events as Platforms for Relationship Building, Info Dissemination, and
Advocacy: The project made use of existing indigenous socio-cultural events like festivals,
cultural events and civic celebrations as platforms for for relationship building, advocacy, and
information sharing and dissemination rather than importing external approaches, which may
not be culturally sensitive, accepted or appropriate.
As festivals are very common among Filipinos, the project developed cardava festivals as a
venue where stakeholders gathered to celebrate anything related to cardava. The festivals have
been highly successful and have attracted large numbers of people involved in the cardava
industry. This has made it an excellent venue to recognize outstanding performances by
stakeholders, draw out and disseminate best practices, build contacts/networks, and share
market information. SDCAsias program supported the conceptualization stage wherein the

34

themes and general structure for the cardava

festival was jointly decided by the different
stakeholders. Because of the positive nature of
these festivals, the marketing opportunities
associated with large gatherings, and the
excitement they build it has become easier to
access support from government, input suppliers,
and lead firms. In addition the participation and
awareness of the local populations has increased.
Aside from facilitating information sharing and
dissemination among players in a fun and festive
way, the competitions have also been
instrumental in bringing together communities
and the different agencies to work together for the
development of the cardava industry
A matching-grant approach was implemented by
the project to motivate and support the
development of festivals and competitions, which
are already now spearheaded by local and
national government agencies with support from
private sector companies like input suppliers,
traders, processors, and other businesses. During
the piloting project support was focused on the
following:

Cardava Festival: NCCC Mall August 2009

Downloading of the mechanics to the

organizers and financial support of about 5% of
the total budget for the competition/festival
Consolidation of field information on best
practices from the participants.
This
information has been utilized to develop
manuals and train the trainers workshops.
Festivals conducted during the second year were
initiated by the Local Government Units (LGUs) and
farmers associations. The conduct of the Cardava
Day has formed part of the annual festivities in
celebration of good harvests. The provincial and
municipal LGUs have added new activities during
the Festivals but have retained the basic features
and objectives as intended and transferred by the
program. Participants at the festivals are not only
from the locality but also include those from other
areas in Mindanao as well as some buyers from
Manila. The festivals are increasingly becoming
venues for initial business negotiations between
farmers groups and lead firms/traders. It is also the
fastest and cheapest venue for building trust
among different players, as smaller producers and
processors are typically more comfortable meeting
the lead firms in their own milieu.

Municipal Cardava Festival

35

Introduction/Upscaling/ Revitalization of Collective Activities: The promotion of collective

action was an important strategy for increased smallholder participation in dynamic markets. In
view of lower transaction costs and more effective capacities, lead firms often prefer to work
with organized farmers rather
than individuals, despite the
increased bargaining power that
groups enjoy. Thrust of projects
support was directed to assisting
communities to engage in
communal business oriented
activities that allowed them to
take on additional functions in
the chain such as nursery
operations, communal farm,
collective marketing, and first fry
operations.
These collective
activities
also
enabled
communities to strengthen their
relationships with lead firms.
In setting up a collective
marketing system for fresh
cardava, several problems were
faced. Farmers, even members,
could not immediately supply
their produce to the cooperative
because these have already been
pledged to traders, with whom
they have had cash advances.
These farmers could not take
advantage of the benefits (good
farm gate price and patronage
refund) of selling to their
cooperative. On the other hand,
the cooperative could not come
up with enough volume to fill
their delivery truck. After a
series of dialogues, it was a
agreed for farmers to split their
harvests --- a portion goes to the
regular trader to sufficiently pay
off their debts, while the rest
goes to the cooperative. In this
way, both the trader and the
cooperative are assured of
getting supply of fresh cardava,
and the farmer is able to
participate in the collective
enterprise.
The entry of cooperatives in the
trading system provided the
catalyst for traders to reconsider
their relationship/offer to their

36

suppliers. Buying schedule

per trader set up by the
community and the local
government is now also
being followed. In the more
progressive
communities,
farmers groups and traders
help each other in fulfilling
their respective obligations.
In these areas, the traders
are active participants of the
farmers groups and, in some
cases, take the lead in
training activities and the
set-up of model farms. To
sustain
the
spirit
of
cooperation, however, it is
always important that all
those involve see and
appreciate the connection between their individual efforts and the community outcome and,
that this translate back to better income generation opportunities and self-esteem.
Promotion of Vertical Linkages: The trade-offs between costs and benefits in relationships are
directly related to the competencies of players since the weakest link may jeopardize the
investment of others. Facilitating the acquisition of basic competencies and capacities of
players were pre-requisite investments to initiating vertical linkages and helped overcome or
modify imbalances in bargaining power as well as create the necessary conditions for enhancing
trust. Based on experiences from the 2 IGPs, key preconditions that entice lead firms to enter
into strategic alliances with micro enterprises/smallholder groups are the following:
-

Demonstration of capability to meet basic quality requirements which implies the need
for some upgrading and a good understanding of the required standards
Access to a significant volume which calls for a well-functioning horizontal collaboration
Willingness to invest --- Lead firms are more inclined to invest when they see that the
communities themselves have invested their own money/assets. Somehow, this
provides a guarantee that the communities will work towards making the venture a
success.

As such, prior to actively promoting vertical linkages, the project facilitated the upgrading of
communities to basic acceptable performance level. The upgrading period geared towards
making communities attractive and partnership ready also provided them opportunities to
immediately improve income generation capacities allowing for stabilization of food and
general livelihood security. Likewise, the need for immediate cash for daily food prevented
micro enterprises and smallholders from participating in transactions with specific payment
schedules typical of volume orders, which implied the need for safety nets. This issue was
addressed through a parallel strengthening of an interlinked chain such as the street food
vendors which absorbs non-processed grade banana for snack food preparation and with
procurement done daily.
Similarly, improving capacities of traders and lead firms to access markets was an important
factor in integrating communities to growing markets and in enhancing their effectiveness to
support supply chain upgrading. Given the limited market perspectives of many of the rural
traders, upgrading activities consisted of exposure to urban markets and training on product
development, quality standards and control. For lead firms to go for long term relationships

37

with traders and/or the communities, see the relevance of working with them, and entrust more
of the production processes to communities, the project assisted them in establishing a
stronghold in the markets by facilitating their access to services that would assist them in
meeting requirements of bigger markets (e.g., GMP, HACCP) and, whenever necessary, in
accessing buyers. Market development and linkage support were provided primarily with the
objectives of: a) expanding markets of the different links; b) ensuring the continuous flow of
orders to the communities; c) providing the impetus or motivation for the various players to
closely work with each other; and d) encouraging chain upgrading and optimization to
consistently meet market demand and requirements.
Vertical collaborations were done incrementally allowing supply chain partners to commit
themselves in stages to minimize risks and work out the challenges of working together while
proceeding on a small scale. Entry point usually involved partners collaborating to identify and
solve problems in their supply chain. Learning by doing was a common methodology with lead
firm acting as coach and mentors. Chain partners discussed and analyzed their operations
looking for practical ways, for example, to reduce costs and improve food quality and safety.
Steps were also made to ensure that whatever the outcome of the pilot collaboration, it will not
leave either of the parties worse off than before the trial collaboration started. Especially during
early stages of collaborations, the project team encouraged communities to maintain two to
three buyers but in a transparent way. Similarly, lead firms were not exclusively tied up with
just one community. In a 100% dependence, there was a tendency for lead firm to dominate
decision making activities especially so if they have invested more than the MSEs. From the
projects experiences, it would seem that a linkage assumes a more transactional and win-win
nature when both parties have alternative outlets and supply sources, and, as such, minimize
potentials of a price-dependency and paternalistic relationship. Likewise, when relationship
deteriorates and lead firm pulls out, the MSEs find it difficult to start all over again. As such, the
project generally discouraged players especially the communities from putting all their eggs in
one basket. To date, all of the communities that the project worked with are dealing with two
to three regular buyers.

Overall Relationship Satisfaction Rating

An end of project survey among farmers was conducted to assess the overall quality of their
relationships with various players in the chain. The survey used satisfaction as a qualitative
measure of the perceived effectiveness and performance of business relationships. A simple
hedonic facial scale rating of 1 to 5 (1 equivalent to very happy, 2 Happy, 3 Okay Not happy,
not sad, 4 Sad and 5 to very sad) was used to measure relationship satisfaction.
Satisfaction RatingFarmers Relationships with Actors in the Cardava Industry
Relationship with
Mean Satisfaction Rating
Difference bet. Mean
Players
(1 very happy; 5 very sad)
Ratings
2008
2009
Existing Project Areas (30 months)
With fellow farmers
2.69
2.43
10%
With input suppliers
2.89
2.79
3%
With cardava
2.68
2.65
1%
canvassers
With cardava traders
2.97
2.57
13%
With exporters
2.86
2.69
6%
With service
2.82
2.63
7%

38

Satisfaction RatingFarmers Relationships with Actors in the Cardava Industry

Relationship with
Mean Satisfaction Rating
Difference bet. Mean
Players
(1 very happy; 5 very sad)
Ratings
2008
2009
providers
Average
2.82
2.63
7%
Overall improvement
Not happy, not sad
Happy
New / Expansion Areas (12 months and less)
With fellow farmers
2.93
2.64
10%
With input suppliers
4.09
2.87
30%
With cardava
3.86
canvassers
2.66
31%
With cardava traders
3.93
3.09
21%
With exporters
4.40
3.00
32%
With service
3.57
providers
2.56
28%
Average
3.80
2.80
Sad
Okay
26%
Insights from Satisfaction Rating:

There was an observed general improvement on the mean satisfaction rating of

relationships of the partner cardava farmers in the existing and older project areas with
other players in the industry. When project started, majority rated their relationship with
various players particularly traders and exporters within the range of 3 to 5. In 2008,
average satisfaction rating was at 2.82. In 2009, average rating further improved to 2.62
with majority indicating that they were happy with the existing relationships. Most common
reasons given by farmers for giving a satisfaction rating of 1 and 2 were the improved flow
of information and knowledge among players and the stronger cooperation among farmers
to do collective trading.

The biggest change among existing project area was observed with the relationship of
farmers between traders. Respondents say that traders are more open to teaching them
quality standards, provide help in terms of cash advance and if they offer volume produce,
traders give good price.

For almost less than 1 year engagement and facilitation with the project, new and expansion
project areas, there was a sweeping increase in the mean satisfaction rating from 3.8 (Sad)
to 2.8 (Okay-Happy). Farmer respondents in the expansion area reported positive
improvements in their relationships with players in the industry especially input suppliers,
cardava canvassers and exporters. The openness in sharing the information by the newly
trained cardava doctors, helping each other to deal with production and market access
problems were highly appreciated by many of the respondents.

Changes in the relationships were further examined using the Relationship Matrix that was
developed by SDCAsia during the 1st IGP program. Status of relationship was gathered via key
informant interviews, qualitative results/descriptive results from relationship satisfaction
survey, impressions from the partners, stories from the players and project team field
observations. The table below presents the status of relationships and how this evolved since

39

2008 to the present and covers primarily old project areas (about 30 months project
engagement).
Relationship 1: Farmer to Farmer
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FELLOW FARMERS
BASELINE
2008
Information Sharing and Transparency
My
neighbor
is
my My neighbor and I belong to the
competitor. Farmers were same industry. Farmers update each
individualistic with limited other in terms of technology and price
sharing of information offers from their buyers.
(price and buyer) only to
family members and close Frequent
discussions,
informal
neighbors for fear of losing sharing between fellow farmers on
edge over the other new opportunities (i.e organic
farmers.
cardava, cardava for the fresh market
and cardava for banana chips).
Main source of info is
immediate buyer without Farmers from the same area get
validation
or
other market and technical information
source/s of market info.
from several sources that can validate
and counter validate received
Successful farm practices information from traders. They
are seldom shared.
validate info among themselves and
also with other players. Farmers, for
Cardava
farming example, send text messaging to radio
communities
seldom program to validate info gathered
interact with each other --- from peers or traders or in reaction to
in terms of sharing of info broadcasted during radio
technology, market info, program.
etc.
Cooperatives/farmer
groups
in
adjoining communities are starting to
interact with each other not just
socially but also in terms of
upgrading/ learning from each other.
Cooperation and Collaboration
Cooperation,
collective Cooperatives and collective initiatives
efforts are viewed as time gradually viewed in a positive
consuming and with no manner. Increasing number of
significant benefits
by farmers participating in collective
majority of the farmers
initiatives. It has also become a source
of prestige to be a part of a collective
Collaboration is perceived endeavor (e.g., delivery of training,
as will always fail because communal farm, etc.) Farmers tend to
of bad previous experiences coalesce with other successful
in
organizational farmers to join the band-wagon of
development.
success and recognition.
The
farmers
establish
cooperative
to
take
advantage of the dole out
from the government, and
anchored on convenience.
Sustainability is not a
primary objective.

Higher degree of collaboration and

the
willingness
to
participate
especially
if
the
cooperation
translates to profits/added income
Farmers tend to look at cooperatives
and their activities as businesses

2009
Information sharing is anchored
on the cooperative and the core
community based providers /
leaders in the area. Member and
non members gather market info
(price and quality requirements)
thru the cooperative marketing
personnel.
Ongoing informal sharing and
information is validated by
dealing openly with traders of
different cardava buyers (fresh
local, processed and fresh
Manila)

Members and non members of

the
cooperatives
equitably
participate in collective trading
activities
Decision making on market
selection is done collectively
thru strong cooperation of
members
and
active
participation in the discussions
on where to market the fresh
produce
Higher degree of collaboration
and
the
willingness
to
participate both in social and
economic related activities
Collective

initiatives

are

40

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FELLOW FARMERS

BASELINE
2008
rather than just a platform to take
advantage of a government funding.

2009
increasingly
viewed
businesses.

as

Relationship 2: Farmers/Growers and Village Traders/canvassers

FARMERS/GROWERS AND VILLAGE TRADERS/CANVASSERS
BASELINE
2008
Supplier and Buyer Selection and Procurement Process
Spot selling and purchasing. Some semblance of long-term
relationships. Each trader has an
Price and payment terms informal network of suppliers.
(cash advances) are the Traders absorb deliveries and outputs
main determinants of buyer of regular suppliers.
and
seller
selection.
Information on traders who Several traders in the area have an
offer higher prices spreads agreed buying schedule / pick up
rapidly
within
the from growers which are sanctioned
community.
by the local government in the area.
Subjective pricing and
payment terms.
Cash
advances are provided by
traders to ensure supply
and loyalty disregarding
assurance of quality.

Preferred suppliers/buyers. Growers

offer a higher degree of loyalty to
cooperative traders as members of
the cooperative and who help them
improve their skills.
Pre sorting and product quality
(maturity and size) is an additional
consideration to price.
Cash on delivery and, in some cases,
farmers are given cash advances

Some traders/canvassers have joined

hands with farmers in the set-up of
community-wide collective marketing
initiatives.
Information Sharing and Transparency
Limited
information Information shared with respect to
sharing on price, cost, demand, both current and potential.
and
demand
from
traders, but mostly for Suppliers and traders aware of
the benefit of traders. standards.
Information sometimes
distorted to serve their Purchasing and pricing decisions are
interests.
now based on transparent common
knowledge of exporters plant gate price
Prices vis--vis standards and knowledge on transaction costs for
are set arbitrarily and trading.
accepted
by
microenterprises
in
exchange for immediate
cash.

2009
Village traders and canvassers
have loyal suppliers.
Suppliers in the area, maintain 23 buyers of cardava in the area
having
the
same
quality
requirements and standards.
In addition to price, many
traders now give premium on
product quality ((maturity and
size)
and
farmers
are
encouraged to do pre-sorting.
Purchase is by cash on delivery;
cash advances prior to delivery
remains an important incentive
for farmers.
Increasing
number
of
traders/canvassers collaborate
with farmers/farmer groups in
the set-up of community-wide
collective marketing initiatives.

Information shared with respect

to demand, both current and
potential.
Suppliers and traders aware of
standards. Suppliers and traders
discuss best marketing strategy
for their current produce
whether for fresh or for
processed and these are based
on market info.

41

FARMERS/GROWERS AND VILLAGE TRADERS/CANVASSERS

BASELINE
2008
Quality Control / Inspection
Differing notions and
perceptions on standards
and arbitrary reasons for
rejects by the traders
No on farm system for
quality
control/inspection.
Traders get rejected
bananas once they have
reached the exporters
plant gate.

Traders together with suppliers conduct

quality control and inspection based on
common understanding of the agreed
standards. Farmers harvest mature
cardavas and do not include pest
infested bananas (in most cases).
Suppliers are paid via cash basis on farm
(or once picked up by the truck) based
on the accepted bananas.

Value Added Services / Cooperation and Collaboration

Some learning and skills Training and mentoring services by
transfer, but knowledge community-based traders (formal and
limited to local norms informal) to solve production problems
and traders.
as well as program trained cardava
doctors (providers).
Open communication lines, frequent
discussions via pulong-pulong on how
to resolve issues like procurement
schedule of the different traders in the
area and portioning of harvests to the
different traders.

2009
Quality control and monitoring
are now common practices
within the area. On farm sorting
is
done
to
immediately
determine quality of produce.
Payments are based on weight of
acceptable bananas

Conduct of regular training and

mentoring of community based
traders to member and non
member suppliers.
Exchange of information via cell
phones which readily provide
market
information
and
feedback.
Both farmers and traders
provide trainings (formal or
informal) to new suppliers.

Traders are more visible and

approachable in the farm areas and can
be easily contacted thru cell phones.
Both farmers and traders join training
and best practices exchange activities in
the model farms, spreading out the
latest info and standards of the industry
Competitiveness and offer to the market
Volume
Price

Reliability
in
supply
and
adherence/compliance to standards are
measures of competitiveness.
Good quality, pre sorted cardava

Reliability in supply and

adherence/compliance
to
standards are measures of
competitiveness.
One community is already in the
final stages of GAP audit and
certification.
Good quality, pre sorted cardava

Relationship 3:Farmer Cooperatives and Exporters

FARMER COOPERATIVES AND EXPORTERS
BASELINE
2008
Supplier and Buyer Selection and Procurement Process
Price and payment terms Aside from price and payment terms,

2009
Volume, quality, transparency

42

FARMER COOPERATIVES AND EXPORTERS

BASELINE
2008
(cash or check) are the transparency and respect are basis for
main determinants of buyer and seller selection.
buyer and seller selection.
Two way initiated transactions on
Spot market sales. Pole delivery,
price
and
payments.
vaulting, highest price Purchasing officers of exporters contact
bidder wins.
community based traders and vice
versa.
No regular transactions.
Exporters usually visited Some degree of commitments from
an area when they needed both parties to regularly supply and
additional cardava or if purchase the cardava. Although,
there is limited supply.
exporters still have a tendency to
provide a short notice when they plan
No prior commitment or to stop accepting cardava because of
orders, but some informal high
inventory
and
suppliers
guarantee
of
future sometimes still fall short of the
business.
expected volume of delivery.

2009
and respect are basis for buyer
and seller selection.
Two way initiated transactions
on delivery, price and payments.
Purchasing officers of exporters
contact
community
based
traders and vice versa.
Exporters provide 1 week notice
of stop buying, while others
give 1 month worth of purchase
orders to community suppliers.
Suppliers maintain 2 -3 buyers
to cushion any impact of stop
buying. It is usually 1 fresh
market and the other on
processed chips market.

No established external
communication protocol
with community suppliers
in case of stop buying
operations.
Information Sharing and Transparency
Directive, one-way, and
limited
information
sharing focused solely on
current transaction and
usually for the selfish
interests of either parties
No clear explanations of
rejected bananas based on
delivery.

Lead firms take time to show effects of

reject bananas when processed into
chips to community based traders.
New suppliers are given orientation
around the processing area to visualize
the steps undertaken and how raw
material quality affects the whole
process.
Occurrence of some degree of
transparent negotiations (still no
written agreements are in place).
Before deliveries both parties discuss
possible pricing schemes, volume that
can be supplied and delivery schedules.
Agreed buying price are stable for 1
week.

Increased
openness
and
information sharing on market
standards to suppliers --especially for newly certified
plants that require strict
compliance to their standards.
Before deliveries both parties
discuss
possible
pricing
schemes, volume that can be
supplied and delivery schedules.
Agreed buying price are stable
for 1 week which coincides with
the weekly purchase orders
provided this is the most
common form of written
agreement.
Exporters for organic banana
chips have 1 year written
PO/Marketing agreement on
volume supply.

Quality Control / Inspection

Directive, one-way quality Better understanding of quality
control and inspection standards.
procedures, not fully
understood by traders.
Based on weight of delivered good
cardava.
Lack of consistency and
transparency
in Traders and exporters conduct quality

Common
understanding
quality standards.

of

Payments are based on weight of

delivered good quality cardava.
There are still problems on

43

FARMER COOPERATIVES AND EXPORTERS

BASELINE
2008
implementing
rules control and mutually agree and respect
and/or standards
inspection results from the delivered
cardava. There are times though that
delayed weighing of the exporter can
result in high degree of rejects (ripe
bananas) which the suppliers complain.
Value Added Services / Cooperation and Collaboration
None

sometimes Exporters respect the suppliers and the

logistics
important role they play in securing the
supply chain and vice versa.
Exporters provide technical advice to
future suppliers on raw material
standards
Exporters provide orientation training
(i.e organic production)

Competitiveness and offer to the market

Price and volume
Consistent quality and volume

2009
banana queuing where longer
weighing lines in the receiving of
fresh cardava results to lowering
of bunch weights due to
moisture loss.

Exporters are now fielding

technical personnel, purchasers
to farm areas to get new
suppliers and at the same time
provide technical advice in
production.
Provision of technical advice to
new suppliers on raw material
standards. Exporters provide
orientation training (i.e organic
production)
Consistent quality and volume

High quality cardava receive premium

price (especially for Japanese chips
market)

High quality cardava receive

premium price (especially for
Japanese chips market)

Some groups have started moving

towards organic/ all natural banana

Some groups have started

moving towards organic/ all
natural banana

Relationship 4: Community-based First Fry Operators and Exporters

COMMUNITY BASED FIRST FRY OPERATORS AND EXPORTERS
BASELINE
2008

2009

Supplier and Buyer Selection and Procurement Process

None
existent
procurement
from
community based FF
operators

Exporters provide equal opportunities

to all suppliers including community
based FF operators and the private
owned FF operators.

Suppliers are private FF

operators (only 4 in
Mindanao) usually former
employees
of
the
exporters no written
agreements.
Determinants
for
selection of the supplier
and buyer are mainly
price and payment terms.

Selection of suppliers is based on

product quality, reliability in supply
and price offer. Exporters provide
down payment either in cash or in kind
(e.g., oil supply) or both.

No regular transactions.

Payment are based on exporters final

Exporters take time to discuss preprocurement terms and provide advice

on cost standards that FF operators
should consider prior to selling.

Exporters are getting supply

both from community based and
private owned FF operators
Quality standards are already in
place and are communicated
clearly
to
the
suppliers.
Exporters send quality control
team to conduct spot check to
community based suppliers. In
the same manner, they offer
assistance to improve processes.
Payment are still based on
exporters final sorting process
which at times provides a point
of disagreement mismatching

44

COMMUNITY BASED FIRST FRY OPERATORS AND EXPORTERS

BASELINE
2008
But with some degree of sorting process which at times provides
recognition
of
past a point if disagreement mismatching
transactions. Operations of records on good quality chips.
of the FF operator on an
order basis, sometimes No long term formal (written
intermittent.
agreements) in place.
Limited
external
communication,
based
only
on
current
transactions
Information Sharing and Transparency
None
existent
for Exporters exposed to partner groups
community based FF provide technical advice, mentoring
operators.
and coaching to FF operators by
sending QC personnel, cook and sorters
Exporters reluctant to to the FF processing plants.
share info for fear that
this would be transmitted Standards on processing (i.e oil usage)
to competitors and the and cost elements are shared between
possibility
that
FF parties to increase productivity, lower
operator may ultimately cost both beneficial to FF operators
engage in direct export and exporters.
(growing a potential
competitor)
Sharing of information on coconut oil
and cardava buying price, but limited
No clear explanations of info on export prices.
rejected sorted chips
based on delivery.
Exporters are now visible and conduct
visits to potential suppliers.
Quality Control / Inspection
Directive, one way --- Quality control procedures employed in
done in plant; Usually a the exporters processing plant are
source of conflict between adapted by the FF operators.
supplier and exporter as
to its veracity and Common understanding of banana
accuracy.
chips standards. For the first deliveries,
coaching on QC procedures and
standards are done.

Value Added Services/ Cooperation and Collaboration

None existent
Monitoring, training and mentoring by
some of the exporters.
Open options to sell fresh cardava to
exporters aside from banana chips.
Community based FF operators has
become conduits for fresh trading in
the area.
Down-payment in terms of oil or cash.
Exporters provide equipment such as
generator, tables, and crates.

2009
of records on good quality chips.
Written agreements are in the
form of purchase orders that
when agreed upon become
binding. However, POs are short
term engagement only.

Provision of technical advice,

mentoring and coaching to FF
operators by sending QC
personnel, cook and sorters to
the FF processing plants.
Technical
advice
includes
trouble shooting on slicers, oil
usage, labor fees and continuous
quality improvements.
Export prices are still kept as
secrets by the exporters.
Information shared is those
directly related to FF operations
like coconut oil wholesale price
and fresh cardava buying price.

Quality
control
procedures
employed in the exporters
processing plant are adapted by
the FF operators.
Common
understanding
of
banana chips standards. For the
first deliveries, coaching on QC
procedures and standards are
done.
Continuous backstopping on
technical concerns like trouble
shooting in slicer failure.
Open communication between
Exporters and FF communities
to discuss not only pricing but
process improvements
Down payment system of oil or
cash continues.

45

COMMUNITY BASED FIRST FRY OPERATORS AND EXPORTERS

BASELINE
2008
Competitiveness and offer to the market
Price
Available supply of green
bananas in the area

2009

Consistent and reliable supply of good

quality banana chips

Consistent and reliable supply of

good quality banana chips

For FF operators pre sorting and high

yield of FF chips since freshly
processed.

For FF operators pre sorting

and high yield of FF chips since
freshly processed.

6. CARDAVA SNACK SMART PROMOTION

Food vendors are important
features in the Philippine
urban scene. The street food
industry
provides
employment to women and
migrants
with
low
educational
background.
The prices of street food are
low and the urban poor
benefit from this. Likewise,
volume traded and sold is
big enough to benefit the
micro
scale
cardava
growers.
For
marginal
banana
growers
and
retailers in the wet market,
the street food vendors are
important market channels
particularly
for
nonprocessed grade and matured bananas. The cardava street food chain is an economic crisis
absorber for majority of the micro enterprises in the cardava sector.
In a survey conducted by the project team, banana cue made from cardava banana emerged as
among the top favorites of low-income workers and school children because it is cheap, tasty,
and filling. Respondents, however, expressed the need for variety and more hygienic
presentation but within the same price range. Similarly, vendors wanted to expand their
product lines to retain and attract more customers given the increasing numbers of low-end fast
food chains. With low profit margin, vendors needed to sell to a critical mass in order to
generate enough income to cover basic daily needs.
In response to the above situation and in line with the B-ACE projects thrust to promote the
judicious and optimum utilization of cardava banana in the local market to mitigate seasonality
(demand) and contribute to the stabilization of price and supply, the Cardava Snack Smart
Promotion Series was launched in collaboration with the Department of Trade and Industry,
Department of Education and Culture, and the local government units. Main objectives of the
Cardava Smart Snack Promotion Series were: a) To facilitate the downloading of commercially
viable cardava recipes to the food service industry to stimulate growth in demand and
improvement of profit margins for all players; b) To promote the adoption of food safety and
quality standards among vendors parallel to sensitizing consumers particularly school children
on the health, nutrition, and socio-economic benefits of cardava-based snack food. The

46

promotion of broad-based
opportunities for microdominated
inter-linked
cardava chains provided a
win-win
platform
for
boosting
their
competitiveness
and,
consequently, their income
generation capacities.
Highlights:

Compilation
of
new
innovative
and
indigenous
cardava
recipes from Philippines
and Latin America

Development of low cost,

easy to prepare cardava
recipes
through
competitions
incorporated
during
festive events in the
provinces
or
municipalities. A simple
module was developed
which included quality
and safety control points,
basics
of
product
development,
product
costing and pricing.

Promotion
of
recipe
adaptation
in
collaboration with Dept.
of Trade and industry and
the
Department
of
Education
to
school
canteens,
restaurants,
Women
Rural
Improvement clubs and
Barangay health workers
and street food vendors.

Establishment of cardava
snack food micro kitchens

Assistance
in
the
development
and/or
implementation
of
promotional campaigns
on cardava dishes and snack food

47

Design of a model rolling food

cart (the Saba Deli) and the
conduct of a snapshot market
assessment

Outputs:

Cardava based competitions

as a regular activity in the
municipal and provincial
festivals utilizing program
developed
competition
mechanics and standards.

Established 1 microkitchen
under the 4K
women
Cooperative in partnership
with Rotary club of Davao, 1
with
Unlad
Kabayan
Foundation women partners
and 1 with Sta. Ana High
School
YECS
Club
for
students. The microkitchens
are supplying to nearby
schools canteens on a weekly
basis.

Adoption of cardava products

and its utilization in other
recipes in 2 restaurants
(Jacks ridge and Dencios
Kamayan Food Chain) and 3
public schools (Sta. Ana High
School, Davao city High
School and Toril National HS)

Downloaded cardava recipe

to 706 women and men in
the projects areas belonging
to
cooperatives,
women
groups, canteen operators,
restaurant
establishments
and individual carinderia
owners.

Agusan del sur: Cardava

Banana Recipes downloaded
to Women Federation of the
Municipality of Trento with
2,500 members. The cooking
competition
and
demonstration has been

48

incorporated in their
annual gathering.

In Malita, the cardava

cooking competition is
a regular feature in
their annual Cardava
festivals participated
by schools, government
agencies,
and
restaurant owners.

1 banana exporter
assisted
in
the
development of snack
food products using
cardava
and
its
peelings (orders have
started to come in); 1
importer
currently
promoting
cardava
snack food products in
Korea

Developed 1 Saba Deli

food cart that was
adopted by Rotary
Foundation
which
funded the fabrication
of 3 more food carts
that is now being
utilized by the 4K
Women Cooperative in
retailing the products
within the schools.

Outcome

Microkitchens are all operational with weekly net income ranging from PhP 1,600 to 2,000
and providing employment to women and youths.

Based on surveys, there is an increased awareness among households on the various uses
of cardava. With soaring prices of meat, the cardava (and its peel) is increasingly used by
food insecure families as substitute for pork and chicken.

Vendors reported improved profit margins as a result of their diversified offerings, better
presentation, and simplified GMP adoption.

Project cannot assess extent to which this component has contributed to sustained demand
for cardava in project areas and in Davao City. As per account of cooperatives engaged in
collective marketing, the price for fresh cardava has remained high even during the
supposedly lean months.

49

C. PERFORMANCE INDICATORS/IMPACT
1. PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
INDICATORS

YEAR 1

YEAR 3 TARGET

YEAR 3
ACCOMPLISHMENT

4380

12,000

25,469

75

50

290

18

1903

5,000

7 lead firms
10 traders
13,620

43%

50%

53%

2,408,875.13

12,184,165

Jan June 2009

13,388,846

Average
Monthly
Income: US$
45.83
64,268

Average monthly
income: US$ 85

230,769

148,061
(January to June 2009)

12,942,000

26,550,000

25,854,240
(Estimated)

30.446 MT =
US$ 36.5
million

39,690,000

Productivity ave. % increase in

productivity (cardava farms)
Cost per unit produced - %
decrease in cost per unit
produced
Number of new products being
produced

3%

30%

50%

4%

20%

38.2%

Number of new sector specific

Scale of Benefits
No. of MSEs assisted by the
project

# of supporting market MSEs

assisted by the project
Number of lead firm SMLEs
assisted by the project
Number
of
womenowned/managed MSEs assisted
by the project
% of women-owned/managed
MSEs assisted by the project as a
% of total MSEs assisted by the
project
Sales/income of MSEs assisted by
the project (in US$)

Sales/income
of
supporting
markets MSMEs supported by the
project (in US$)
Sales/income of SMLEs assisted
by the project (in US$)
Sales of the level of the value
chain targeted by the project (in
US$)

Average Monthly
Income: US$ 80

50

INDICATORS
technologies/ services/ products
available
Number of new financial services
available
Number of new non-sector
specific
services/technologies/products
available
Lead Firms
No. of new production/
management techniques adopted
Number. of new marketing
approaches adopted
Number of new end markets
accessed
Relationships
No of MSEs linked to lead firms
No. of MSEs cooperating with one
another to sell to a lead firm
No. of MSEs acquiring or
purchasing
new
supporting
services
No. of MSEs cooperating with one
another to purchase or acquire a
new supporting service
No. of lead firms and/or traders
providing upgrading support to
suppliers/MSEs
Regulatory
No. of procedures, time, and costs
in getting permits to operate and
other requirements (e.g., bar
code)

YEAR 1

YEAR 3 TARGET

YEAR 3
ACCOMPLISHMENT

None
1

10

3,360

10,000

8,169

3,360

10,000

8,169

4,380

12,000

22,838

4,380

12,000

12,107

30

17

Decreased by 20%

0 --- improvement in
services only

2. IMPACT ASSESSMENT
The impact data below is based on a survey of 1,161 respondents in 10 project areas and in one
barangay as the control group conducted last July 2009. 76% of the respondents were male and
24% were female. 32% of the respondents were elementary graduates only, 25% did not finish
elementary level, 18% high school level, 17% high school graduates, 5% college level, 3.6%
college graduate and 0.3% received vocational studies. About 86% of the respondents own the
land they farm. 4% rent or lease the land they farm from landowners. Another 9% of the
respondents are tenants, hired labor or caretakers of the farms. The average number of years in
cardava farming among all respondents is 7 years.

51

Productivity
Area

Average Monthly Yield

(Kg/Ha)
2nd sem 2008
2009

Project Areas 3 years

Malita
Sulop
Kiblawan
Samal
Asuncion
Montevista
Malitbog
Project Areas 1 year and less
Bukidnon (Quezon, Pangantukan, Maramag)
Agusan (Trento and Prosperidad)
Control Group - Astorga

% Change

930.16

934.99

0.5%

841.62

874.98

4.0%

321.85

604.26

87.7%

177.75

521.61

193.5%

641.64

676.48

5.4%

607.20

711.58

17.2%

585.44

596.01

1.8%

377

377.89

0.2%

116.76

280.10

139.9%

363.11

409.90

12.9%

In project areas, productivity increased by an average of 50% compared to 12.9% among the
control group. It can also be seen from above table that average monthly yield per hectare in
old project areas (3 years) is higher compared to compared to farms in control community and
in new project areas (1 year and less). Sulop/Asuncion is now in the final audit phase for GAP
certification and will be the first cardava farm that will be GAP certified. Malita is the projects
pilot area and yield per hectare has more or less reached its optimum level. During the 3rd year
of the B-ACE project implementation, Samal stepped up the conduct of GAP training in
response to increase demand from the first fry facility. Although productivity in Agusan del Sur
is still relatively low compared to other areas, the average monthly yield increased by 140% and
this may be attributed among others with the launching of the GAP radio program and the
intensification of GAP training by community-based providers and government extension
officers.

Perceived Change in Income

Area
Project Areas 3 years
Project Areas 1 year and below
Control Group

Perceived Change in Income

Increase
Same
Decreased
61%
1%
38%
4%
96%
100%

Survey results indicate that it takes 2.5 to 3 years for upgrading efforts to result into tangible
benefits. In areas where project has worked for three years, the increase in income was evident.
Respondents in these areas who responded decreased in income were generally those who
participated in the project activities for just about two years. As per respondents in project
areas, improvements in farming practices and their decision to increase the number of hills or
the size of farm area allotted to cardava helped a lot in cushioning the impact of soaring prices
and natural calamities.

52

Reason/s for Increase in Income

When asked on the reasons for the increase in income, 87% of all respondents who indicated an
increase attributed such increase to the expansion of their existing farm, 77% said they started
a new farm, 84% said it was due to the good agricultural season, 74% have expanded or sold to
new markets, 92% have increased their production and 72% have applied GAP. Some
respondents have identified other reasons such as increase in the price of their produce.
Area

Malita
Sulop
Kiblawan
Samal
Asuncion
Montevista
Malitbog
Trento
Total

Reasons for the Increase in Income

Expanded
existing farm/
enterprise

Started new
farm

Good
agricultural
season

Expanded/
Sold to new
markets

Increased
demand

Applied GAP

85%
100%
100%
100%

76%

83%
100%

73%
100%

92%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

70%

100%

100%
100%
86%

100%
100%
100%

77%

84%

100%
100%
100%
74%

100%
100%

100%
100%
92%

72%

Reason/s for Decrease in Income

Among those who perceive a decrease in their household income, 68% of them attributed such
decrease to pests and diseases on the crops, 48% said it was due to the poor agricultural season,
25% blamed it on the natural disaster, 20% on poor sales, another 20% on household members
getting sick and 15% on the respondent himself/herself getting sick. Other reasons cited were
high cost of inputs and no financing available.
Area

Malita
Sulop
Kiblawan
Asuncion
Montevista
Malitbog
Bukidnon
Trento
Prosperidad
Astorga
Total

Reason/s for the Decrease in Income

HH members
got sick

I have been
sick

Natural
Disaster

Poor agri
season

Pests and
diseases

Poor sales

22%

26%
100%

43%
100%

77%

90%
100%
100%

34%
100%

100%

100%
100%

100%
3%
100%
20%

100%
15%

100%
25%

100%
100%
48%

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
68%

100%
100%
3%
100%
20%

53

Improvements Made in Business during the last 6 months

When asked whether they have made changes or improvements on their farm, about 67% of the
respondents answered affirmatively. A significant 88% of the control group meanwhile did not
make any changes or improvements in their farm.
Area

Malita
Sulop
Kiblawan
Samal
Asuncion
Montevista
Malitbog
Bukidnon
Trento
Prosperidad
Astorga (control group)
Total

Did you make any changes/improvements in your

business/farm during the past 6 months?
No
Yes
22%
78%
31%
69%
17%
83%
100%
0%
0%
100%
12%
88%
52%
48%
48
52%
3%
97%
67%
33%
88%
12%
33%
67%

Main motivation for implementing the changes:

The additional income that will result due to the improvements made
Higher market price of the produce
Encouraged by results shown by other farmers who implemented the change
To make better use of the land

Regular Buyer
In old project areas, majority of the respondents maintain regular buyers. This may signify
improved trust relations among players especially in older program areas. On the other hand,
an overwhelming majority of the control group (81%) does not sell to a regular buyer. Choice on
whom to sell is driven by price offer.
Area
Malita
Sulop
Kiblawan
Montevista
Malitbog
Bukidnon
Trento

Do you have a regular buyer for your cardava?

No
Yes
49.6%
50.4%
37.1%
62.9%
100.0%
100.0%
28.0%
72.0%
41.2%
58.8%
50.0%
50.0%

54

Area

Do you have a regular buyer for your cardava?

No
Yes
50.0%
81.2%
47.6%

Prosperidad
Astorga
Total

50.0%
18.8%
52.4%

Premium Price
An increasing number of traders/lead firms pay premium prices for big, matured, and good
quality cardava.
Area

Do you receive special price for a certain quality of cardava?

No
Yes

Malita

54.9%

45.1%

Sulop

65.2%

34.8%

Kiblawan

100.0%

Asuncion

100.0%

Montevista

84.6%

15.4%

Malitbog

50.0%

50.0%

Bukidnon

83.3%

16.7%

Trento

100.0%

Prosperidad

100.0%

Astorga

93.8%

6.2%

Total

59.5%

40.5%

Perceived Improvement in Quality of Life/Positive Changes

Respondents identified the following as among the positive changes and perceived
improvements in their life during the recent months that can be attributed to project
interventions:

Able to help others

Bought something for the house/farm
Increased income
Gained more knowledge in farming
Area

Positive Changes/Perceived Improvements in Quality of Life

My Income
has
Increased

Bought
something
for the
house/
farm

I have gained
more friends
and
acquaintances

I have
gained
more
knowledge
in farming

I have
joined
trainings
and
seminars

I have
helped
others

Malita

72.6%

75.7%

63.8%

68.7%

46.3%

95.6%

Sulop

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

No changes

31.6%

55

Area

Positive Changes/Perceived Improvements in Quality of Life

My Income
has
Increased

Bought
something
for the
house/
farm

I have gained
more friends
and
acquaintances

I have
gained
more
knowledge
in farming

I have
joined
trainings
and
seminars

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

I have
helped
others

Kiblawan

100.0%

Montevista

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

Malitbog

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

Bukidnon

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

Trento

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

77.3%

67.2%

70.4%

51.0%

96.0%

Astorga
(control
group)

Total

74.5%

No changes

31.6%

56