The Philippine Saging is Sagging (Part 2)

From 1969 to 2010 we were Asia’s no. 1 and only saging exporter. There was no 2, 3, 4, etc. Davao City boomed. About 80,000 plus hectares were saging. Two laborers per hectare times 80,000 hectares equals 160,000 Laborers. Add the office staff, the packing plants, drivers, mechanics, guards about 180,000 plus. The salaries every 15 days ran into billions of pesos. The sari-sari stores in the barrios, dry good stores, motorcycle, appliances (T.V., refrigerators, etc.) in Panabo, Madaum, Tagum, etc. raked in billions of pesos for 40 years. Davao City’s hardwares, motorcycles, shops, malls, food vendors (rice, corn, bulad, tinapa, etc.) in Sta. Ana in one year had a combined income equal to the income of 10 towns in Mindanao. Sta. Ana’s 10-hectare area, supplied all the needs of the 80,000 hectares the 2 Surigaos, 2 Agusans, 5 Davaos, parts of Bukidnon. The Sta. Ana district is the richest in Mindanao, richer than some Mindanao cities.

From 1990’s to 2022, the leaders in saging export were no. 1 Ecuador, no. 2 Davao, 3. Guatemala, 4. Colombia. In 2022, Davao dived from world no 2 to no 3, in 2023, no. 3 in 2024, no. 4 in 2024. By 2030, we will not be no. 4 anymore but no. 6. There are x8 reasons for this. Since 1990’s, we supplied all the Chinese saging. In the 2000’s we and China claimed islets and reefs in the South China Sea. 1. Because of this dispute, China, the biggest banana buyer in the world, stopped buying from us and turned to Vietnam which has no labor laws, like minimum wage, 8-hour work, no legal health and safety protections. The production cost is less compared to RP. 2. 2 Electricity/ Power Fertilizer are subsidized for new industries like saging. 3. China built a railroad bringing Vietnam saging to China in 24 hours. A banana ship leaves Panabo on Monday reaches Guangzho on Sunday. The railroad transportation cost in 40 percent cheaper. 4. Land Reform. Since early 2000, the hundred hectare farms (Marsman, Odell, etc.) were divided into individual farms averaging 2-hectare per beneficiary. The new owners formed cooperatives. They did not have the trained labor force, sophisticated machines, modern chemicals, latest agri-techniques that corporate farms had. 4. Panama disease (Fusarium) when it was detected in 2000, the government did little to stop it.

Sadly, there was no cooperation teamwork between United Brand, Stanfilco, Del Monte, the big new Japanese and Arab corporate farms. There was a blame game contest. Some say it started in Taiwan because Taiwan agri businesses wanting to copy Davao’s success, created laboratories, brought different South American saging varieties, had experiments with it, sent samples to Davao for studies including saging from banana which had the virus (some say Panama virus (fusarium) had chemical parts similar to tomato virus and said it came from tomato farms). The hardest hit were the Davao coops which had no saging experts, scientists, chemicals, machines to stop it. Compounding it was the yearly flooding of Davao delta. The flood waters covered the delta allowing the Panama disease to safely float from infected farm to clean safe protected farms.

Today, 30,000 hectares out of 89,000 hectares are dead, sterile, useless because of the disease. 6. Lack of Govt support. When first discovered about 18 years ago, the government did not send their top scientists, agronomists botanists PHD’s, their best from UPLB/ specialized laboratories, to Davao and to stay there until Fusarium is wiped out. Little or no modern quarantine techniques, training, equipment, chemicals, sprayers, to fumigate sick saging farms, insufficient money to train Davaoenos on how to spot and kill them, all these made our glorious dive from no. 2 in 2020 to no. 4 in 2024. Nobody cared, nobody listened, nobody acted. Since the 1990’s the banana industry had been in the top 5 of our nation’s dollar earners.

Our saging is sagging. History repeats itself. From 1930 to 1950’s Davao was the world’s no. 1 abaca exporter. Mosaic hit the abaca farms in the 50’s. In 1958 abaca was gone. From 1946 to early 50’s, abaca was one of the top 5-dollar earner industry. Hoy! Help! Tabang!