AVANT GARDENER
The Department of Agriculture-Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR) celebrated the closing of Farmers’ and Fisher Folk's month last May 30 with Paella a la Cordillera held at the Melvin Jones Grandstand.
Twenty-six chefs from popular restaurants in Baguio, Manila, and Davao gathered together to cook about 250 kilos of paella using ingredients native to CAR including Kalinga heirloom rice variety chong-as and Benguet smoked pork kiniing.
“We were thinking [about] what we were going to showcase this year,” said DA-CAR Regional Executive Director Atty. Jennilyn M. Dawayan. “Heirloom [rice] is one of our high-value crops, [aside from] Arabica coffee, highland vegetables, and strawberries… We also included… kiniing, which is preserved meat.”
Helmed by Chef Waya Araos Wijangco of Gypsy Baguio, the dish was prepared in a giant paellera loaned by Instituto Cervantes especially for the occasion and served to over 1,000 people.
The event also marked the culminating activity of a farm linkage tour hosted by DA-CAR in cooperation with WOFEX that brought chefs from several high-end restaurants to meet various farming groups in Benguet.
Chefs that included Lord Bayaban of Hilton Manila, Allen Buhay of the Wildflour Hospitality Group; Kit Carpio of Savoy Hotel Manila; OJ Gomez of Makiling Hillside Delicacies; Ana Lorenzana De Ocampo of the Wildflour Hospitality Group; Mike “Tatung” Sarthou of Tatung’s, among others; Jay Jay SyCip of The Fatted Calf; Rhea Castro SyCip of Flour Pot Manila; and caterer Ivory Yat Vaksman of Chef Ivory Yat.
Also on the trip were community organizer Patreng Non of Community Pantry Philippines and President of Tosen Foods Candice Chung, the latter about to launch the first brand of locally sourced canned tomatoes.
WOFEX’s involvement with agriculture was accidental. Some clients backed out, leaving them with free tables, which they let farmers occupy.
“We found that the farmers never got the chance to connect with the end user which was the chefs or the restaurateurs. They did not know how to talk to them during the show,” said WOFEX head Joel Pascual.
“It became a realization… that we have to serve this very underserved need of how to bring their products to the market. Apparently, there was no real understanding of what the market needed. And because our strength is that we have that network of food service players, we thought that we could play that role in bringing them together.”
For the synergy to be really effective, the government had to come into play. “We… felt that for us to be effective, we had to take the government into the effort. We approached [DA-CAR], Cordillera being our test kitchen given that they have the most products that Manila people like. Luckily, we found people in the DA who were ready, willing, and able to support this endeavor, especially Atty. Jen,” Pascual added.
The chefs, led by Chef Waya and WOFEX’s Special Project Lead CSR Harold Lu, visited organic and GAP (Good Agricultural Practices)-certified high-value crop farmers such as vegetable farmers in Atok and Mankayan as well as strawberry farmers in Kibugan.
“[The] farmers appreciate that there are partners like [these chefs] that aren’t like traditional trading posts… where their products can get a higher value if they meet certain market requirements,” Dir.
Dawayan said in Tagalog.
But the exposure trip is the easy part. What comes next is more challenging, as it involves paperwork, something that many farmers are unfamiliar with but is required to work with registered businesses. “I have requested [the chefs] to provide us with… the legal requirements that our farmers need to comply with,” Dir. Dawayan said. “I hope we can forge agreements as a result of this activity.”
For Pascual, the hope is trifold:
“First is for government to be more conscious of the need to not only push better production but also push better marketing,” Pascual said in Taglish, citing the need for a curation plan to prevent oversupply and dumping of excess produce.
“[Second]... food service industries can actually get better produce if they have a better relationship with the farmers. Traceability, or understanding where your produce comes from, and having that conversation with [farmers] will actually give you better food. I think that’s understandable. Fresh, local, sustainable, will give you better tasting food.”
Third and most important, involves the farmers themselves. “If you give them a mindset that is different from what they do now… because farming… really is a business. If you give them the knowledge of how to do costing, of how to do marketing, talking to clients, that will give them better revenue. In fact, if we can encourage them to go from just farming to post-harvest processing, that’s value added and they will earn more.
“And I think if they take it to that level… if the next generation sees that they’re going beyond just tilling the land but actually packaging things that go to the supermarkets, that go to the consumers, they’ll get excited.”
Everyone understands that this is not an easy task, but if done properly, the results will benefit not just the agriculture and food service industries, but the entire country.
Pascual said, “If all of this comes together, then I think sustainability or food security is within our grasp.”