Garlic industry leaders in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte confirmed the need for government assistance in marketing, farmgate price standardization, and production technologies in order to boost production. This was the highlight of their meeting with PHTRC team led by Dr. Perlita A. Nuevo as part of a Bureau of Plant Industry-funded project titled “Extending the Storability and Maintaining Quality and safety of Garlic Bulbs (Allium sativum L.) (Postharvest Handling)”. The municipality of Pasuquin has reportedly been producing the bulk of and the garlic in Ilocos Norte in recent years.
The meeting was well-attended with over 20 key participants who actively exchanged ideas and insights about the current state of the garlic industry in Pasuqion and the region in general. Among those present during the meeting were the chair of the Municipal Committee on Agriculture, the municipal agriculturist and her staff, the municipal High Value Crop Development Program coordinator, selected garlic growers, farmer-traders, and farmer leaders, most notable of who were the presidents of the Provincial Garlic Farmers Association, Municipal Federated Garlic Growers Association and Federated Farmers of Pasuquin.
The PHTRC team, during their presentation of the results of interviews with 59 garlic growers in December 2018, identified the top three problems during the 2017-2018 cropping. These included pests and diseases, high input.labor costs, and unfavorable weather. participants of the meeting unanimously shared that the unfavorable weather led to the low yield at that time, which averaged only 2.31 tons/ha. They claimed this figure to be lower than the estimated 4 tons/ha average in 2018-2019. In terms of marketing, lack of support from the local and national government, and competition with imported garlic were cited as the main constraints to trading of native garlic.
Meanwhile, preliminary laboratory experiment of the PHTRC team showed that garlic bulbs stores at ordinary room temperature for 6 months lost weight ranging from 7% to 9%. On the average, good quality bulbs accounted for 43%, 10% had internal damage and 47% with external damage.
Among the garlic varieties from different production areas, the most pungent was the Ilocos White (from Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte and Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya), followed by the Mindoro variety (from Lubang, Occidental Mindoro), and the Batanes White (from Itbayat, Batanes) as the least pungent.
The project aims to make available a regular supply of quality and safe locally grown garlic, particularly to determine the postharvest practices and problems in the different production areas and major market centers; evaluate the postharvest quality of garlic bulbs from different production areas; and develop or modify postharvest technologies to extend storage period, minimizes losses and maintain the quality and safety of garlic bulbs.
During the open forum, the farmers expressed interest in growing tissue-cultures planting materials due to pest and disease problems during plant growth. While selected garlic growers in Ilocos Norte were given planting materials by researchers from UPLB in 2014, only one of the recipients was able to successfully grow them in Pasuquin,
To cap the event, the PHTRC team distributed information materials in the form of Food Safety Calendar as token of appreciation for the participants. (MV Maunahan and JM Resores; Photo: PA Nuevo)