7 cacao farmers in Davao City to compete in Philippine Cocoa Quality Awards

The farmers who were given plaques of recognition by the DA 11 recently completed the 10 region-wide qualifiers that will compete  for the Philippine Cocoa Quality Awards 2022.

City Agriculturist Office (CAGRO) Cacao Focal Person Fe Oguio, in a report from the City Information Office (CIO) said,  the city submitted 13 samples and out of 13, seven emerged as winners who will represent the Davao Region.

The farmers are from Paquibato District, Barangay Saloy, Calinan District, Callawa, Buhangin District, and from Tugbok District. 

Oguio said t the qualifiers were selected through the blindfold method by the judges last October 12-13 at the University of the Philippines Mindanao.

She added that the top 10 will compete for the National Cacao Quality Awards. The national-level winners will represent the Philippines in Paris, France in 2023. The awarding for the Philippine Cacao Quality Awards will be done at the Cacao Congress to be held on November 28-29 at the SMX Convention Center. 

“Those who will win in the national competition will represent the Philippines in 2023 in Paris, France,” Oguio said.

Oguio said that many farmers were able to join because of the efforts of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Agriculture Field Office XI, which emphasized that all local government units and all provinces in the Davao Region must join.

The dissemination of information about the competition is on the farmer level and has been widened to encourage farmers to join. 

A practitioner of organic farming on his farm for two years, Policarpio Enricoso is among the DA 11 awardees. He said that he is happy that the cacao sample from his farm was chosen to be among the entries submitted.

“Nalipay ko kay opportunity gyud na labi na sa amoa nga farmers nga layo gyud sa siyudad, nailhan gyud ang amoang cacao nga lami siya kay nisakay man ta sa top 10. Duha mi ka farmers nga puro niapil sa top 10, pareha mi first time,” Enricoso said.

Enricoso is hopeful that such recognition for cacao farmers and cacao products will attract investors for cocoa products here in Davao City.

Oguio, meanwhile, said the city is planning to conduct a city-wide cacao quality award, to include the districts that have the potential to compete.

Currently, the city has almost 9,000 cacao farmers, with almost 7,000 hectares of area planted with the crop, usually in Calinan, Baguio, Marilog, and Paquibato District.