TUESDAY DECEMBER 01, 2009 PHILIPPINES

Short supply of nuts threatens pili exports

By Paul M. Icamina

NAGA CITY =E2=80=93 A scarcity of pili nuts threatens a rapidly = growing export=20 industry.

"The scant supply is due to the decreasing number of pili trees," = said Lydia=20 Lomibao who, together with her husband Joseph, turned a backyard = business with=20 an initial capital of P500 in 1997 into a P10 million business today. =

The Lomibaos own and manage J. Emmanuel Pastries and source their = nuts from=20 the 105-hectare Hacienda de Naga. But they are worried enough to plant = seven=20 hectares of their own land to pili trees.

"Raw material supply is dwindling because farmers have little = knowledge of=20 the value and potential of pili-based products," she told Malaya = Business=20 Insight. "I am confident, however, that we can still manage the volume = of raw=20 materials for our present needs, which is about 120 kilos of raw nuts a=20 day."

Lomibao said there are only two companies, one being J. Emmanuel = Pastries,=20 currently exporting pili products. J. Emmanuel Pastries sells its = products to=20 the United States, Japan, China, Canada and Guam.

Its product line includes roasted pili nut and pili coated with honey = or=20 garlic. Aggressive marketing in malls has expanded its three outlets to = 30 in=20 Southern Luzon, Cebu and Metro Manila, boosting sales by 30 percent and=20 accounting for half of gross sales. Sales in airport and hotel outlets = account=20 for 10 percent.

"It took us one year before getting our first order in 2008 from the = US, only=20 to suffer during the recession there. Orders stopped last September and = were=20 renewed only this March," she said.

"Pili has been there all the time, but it=E2=80=99s only now that we = are seeing=20 substantial exports," said Lomibao. "When we started we had zero = technology,=20 until we turned to the SET-UP program of the Department of Science and=20 Technology (DOST) to upgrade our equipment and bring our processes up to = standard."

SET-UP stands for Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program that=20 encourages and assists small and medium enterprises to adopt technology=20 innovations and improve their operations and boost productivity and=20 competitiveness.

The program enables small firms to address technical problems through = technology transfer and interventions and improve productivity through = better=20 product quality, human resources development, cost minimization and = waste=20 management.

Six priority areas are covered by SET-UP: food processing; furniture; = gifts,=20 decors and handicrafts; marine and aquatic resources; horticulture (cut = flowers,=20 fruits and high-value crops); and metals and engineering.

"They availed of P310,000 in SET-UP loans for processing and = packaging=20 equipment, with free training on good manufacturing practices, including = cleaner=20 production technology," said engineer Ernesto Reyes Jr., a senior = science=20 specialist at the DOST Camarines Sur office.

The "clean" technology was the gasifier combuster designed by the = DOST=20 Industrial Technology Development Institute. The combuster, instead of = using=20 rice hull it was designed for, burns and converts pili shells and stela = (skin)=20 into an LPG-like gas which heats the oven used to cook pili pastries. =

"Because of the combuster, they have zero waste in processing," Reyes = said,=20 adding that the loan availed in 2004 was fully paid by 2007.

The pili tree is abundant and wild in southern Luzon, particularly in = Bicol,=20 and in parts of the Visayas and Mindanao. A 300 hectare farm in Negros=20 Occidental, for example, is planted to 60,000 pili trees.

The trees, which are difficult to propagate, are collected from = natural=20 stands. They are harvested in Albay (3,750 hectares), Camarines Norte = (150=20 hectares), Camarines Sur (600 hectares), Catanduanes (150 hectares) and = Sorsogon=20 (350 hectares).

While pili is indigenous to Southeast Asia, the Philippines has a = monopoly in=20 the world market because it is the only one which processes the nut=20 commercially. In other countries, the tree is an ornamental.

This year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) budgeted P150 million = for=20 marketing, research and development and the replanting of seven pili = varieties=20 in Bicol, which accounts for 80 percent of national production. A Pili = Research=20 and Training Center is based in Guinobatan, Albay.

The DA expects the number pili trees to increase three-fold when over = 600,000=20 seedlings distributed since 2000 for the establishment of pili orchards = bear=20 fruit. Areas planted for pili rose 29.3 percent to 7,046.5 hectares in = July 2006=20 from 5,449 hectares in July 2000.

Pili provides income to some 13,435 farmers who own at least 10 trees = as well=20 as laborers hired as harvesters. The nut does not require costly storage = treatment and, when properly dried, can be stored for one year under = ordinary=20 room conditions.

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