Urdaneta market was the
trading center for eggplant in Pangasinan while Tanauan and Lipa market
were the trading center in Batangas and Quezon. In Cebu, the trading center
for eggplant was in Carbon market.
Batangas
Participatory Rural Appraisal
(PRA) was conducted on July 11-13, 2000. Primary data were gathered
through interviews of farmers, traders, and key informants in the municipality
of Balete Batangas on July 3-7 2000. Secondary information on eggplant
was obtained from MAO, Department of Agriculture, and Southern Tagalog
Integrated Agricultural Research Center (STIARC). Validation of gathered
data was done with the help of 10 grower-farmers and 8 key informants.
A total of 30 farmers were interviewed in 4 barangays of Balete. There
are 30 traders interviewed in Tanauan and Lipa Market.
Eggplant were planted in two
seasons but in separate areas. The lowland areas are planted to eggplant
during the month of November and harvested from February-April. On the
other hand, upland areas were planted to eggplant during the month of
May and harvested in July until September. The common varieties used
are Sinanpedro and newly introduced Casino. Most of the
farmers preferred to plant Casino, since it is more tolerant
to pests and diseases compared with Sinanpedro. Major problem
cited by farmers and traders are pests and diseases, which resulted
to less marketable, produced.
The varieties available in the
market are: Casino, Sinanpedro, Bingo, Tagalog, Bureau,
and Jackpot. The most preferred varieties by the consumers are
Casino because of its texture, size and color, and Bureau because
of its medium size, color and shelf life of at least 3 days. Eggplants
in Tanauan market came from Balete and Rosario,Batangas, Candelaria
and Tiaong, Quezon while buyers come from Bicol, Metro Manila (Divisoria)
and some parts of Laguna who buy eggplant in wholesale basis.
Cebu
A survey of eggplant growers
was in Barangay Parales, CarCar, Cebu province. Secondary data were
gathered from MAO office of Carcar and at the same time group coordinate
with MAO regarding the conduct of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA).
Survey of eggplant traders was
conducted at Carbon Market (trading center of Cebu). Most of the traders
are there from 7:00 PM until morning. The traders came from different
part of Cebu province. According to them the eggplant which they are
selling came from Carcar, and Danao, Cebu and from the Province of Bohol.
Planting season start in the
month of April in areas near the alluvial river wash and are harvested
starting June until August. Long purple and casino are
the common eggplant varieties planted in the area. Farmers also perform
different postharvest practices such washing, sorting , and packaging
of fruit. Most of the farmers use "bukag" (basket) as packaging container.
The traders/farmers use hired tricycle and 10-wheeler truck for huge
volume of vegetables in transporting the products.
Among the problems mentioned
by farmers include the occurrence of pests and diseases, financial and
technical supports. On the other hand, the identified problems of traders
are lack of financial supports and no specific selling station for vegetables
in the Carbon market.
Pangasinan
A total of 45 farmers were interviewed
in three (3) barangays of Asingan Pangasinan- Barangay Bantug, Carusucan
Sur and Carusucan Norte. Eggplant are planted after rice in the month
of September to October (planting season) and harvested in the months
of December to April. About 85% of rice farms in the three barangays
studied were estimated to be planted to eggplant.
Farmers in Barangay Bantug organized
a cooperative, which provide loans and latest information on Integrated
Pest Management (IPM) to members. The cooperative also produces organic
fertilizers which members utilized in their farms. In addition to this,
the cooperative markets the products of members to Sta. Maria and Urdaneta,
Pangasinan as well as Divisoria and Bicol. Among the problems mentioned
by farmers are pests and diseases, infertility of the soil, and fluctuating
prices of eggplant.
Farmers from Carusucan Sur and
Norte have the same farm practices particularly in seedbed and seedling
preparation, fertilizer and pesticide application. All farmers from
both barangays use commercial fertilizers. Eggplants are packed in 10-kg
plastic unlike before wherein farmers use 30-kg plastics. Problems mentioned
include pests and diseases, fluctuating prices, flooding in low lying
areas, and limited access to financial institutions.
The common varieties used in
Asingan were Casino, Bingo, Jackpot, Black Ninja and Native.
Among these varieties, Casino was commonly used because of its
tolerance to pests and diseases, higher yield, and the preference of
the buyers.
Area Planted
and Production
From 1990 to 1998, the area
planted to eggplant increased from 16,425 Ha to 17,797 Ha. Production
also increased to 182,000 MT in 1999 from 112,000 MT in 1990. Yield
also increased from 7 MT/Ha in 1990 to 10 MT/Ha in 1999.
In 1999, the Philippines has
a total production of 159,190 MT. Among the top contributors are the
provinces of: Pangasinan (31%), Quezon (11%), Isabela (10%), Nueva Ecija
(5%), Ilo-Ilo (5%), Tarlac (3%), Cebu (3%), and Davao (3%). (Figure
1).
Prices
Like other vegetables, the retail
price of eggplant in Luzon Market is high during the month of July to
December. The prices begin to fall from the months of February to June
(summer months). From 1991 to 1998, it was observed that the month of
November has the average retail price of about P26/kg. It was also recorded
that the highest price was in the month of December 1998 for P50/kg.
Unlike in Luzon, Visayas and
Mindanao were observed to have high retail price during the months of
February to June (Figure 2). However, Visayas and Mindanao market have
less fluctuation in prices. The highest price was in May 1998 for Visayas
(P23/kg), while in the Mindanao the highest price was in June 1998 for
P28/kg.
The price band (difference between
the highest and the lowest average retail price) was highest in Luzon
with P37.16 compared with P7/kg and P18/kg in Visayas and Mindanao,
respectively.