DAVAO City – Some P500 million will be poured in Mindanao next year to increase by two-folds the number of cacao trees planted through the Double-Up Program.
In an interview Friday, Mindanao Development Authority (Minda) executive director Janet Lopos told reporters that the Double-Up Program was conceptualized with the Cacao Industry Development Authority of Mindanao Inc. (CidamiI) in order to meet both global and domestic demand for cacao.
Most of the funds will be downloaded by the Department of Agriculture (DA) while the counterpart of the MinDA will be P169 million.
Lopos said more budgets will be allotted for this project as other agencies such as Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), and Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) are also expected to contribute in the program that will start next year.
She said it is necessary to fast-track the planting of cacao because Mindanao is being positioned as the top producer of cacao in the country.
In fact, she said when farmers start to harvest, the next thing they will do is to develop a Mindanao brand.
The Philippines has a shortage of around 40,000 metric tons (MT) of cacao, which have to be sourced from Malaysia and Indonesia. mindanews
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