Japan provides assistance in enhancing the value chain of black garlic in Ilocos Norte

Ambassador KOSHIKAWA delivered his speech at the ceremony. He expressed his confidence that this project will greatly benefit the local farmers of Ilocos Norte, as well as his hopeful wishes that this will contribute to the current administration’s priority agenda of agriculture. The Ambassador was also looking forward to seeing this project boost Ilocos Norte’s competitiveness as the top garlic producer in the Philippines.
 
To meet domestic demands, the Philippines has had to rely extensively on importing garlic, which also affects its farmers’ revenue. As a result, farmers resort to producing other crops instead, and this leads to the decline of garlic productivity in the country.

As the garlic capital of the Philippines, Ilocos Norte accounts for 60% of the domestic production of garlic. In 2019, JICA funded the conduct of a feasibility study to test the adaptability of Ilocos Norte to Japanese garlic production technologies. In the same year, Takara Inc. donated a black garlic processing machine to MMSU in its bid to become the first Philippine agency to commercialize the production of black garlic in the country.

In order to further support the farmers of Ilocos Norte, JICA will fund the business verification survey for the value chain of black garlic in the Philippines. This project will be implemented by Takara Inc. and MMSU. A demonstration farm will be established inside the MMSU campus in Batac City and in three other municipalities in Ilocos Norte. Various activities will be held to continue the development of the existing black garlic production, including developing markets for the said commodity.