For several years now, Euro Spice has aimed to develop, promote, and market locally grown Philippine agricultural products. Since our business is primarily focused on food ingredient importation, we believe it is our responsibility to support and promote quality local ingredients.

Our first introduction to the food service industry was Frozen Kalamansi Extract, sourced from farmers in Nueva Ecija. The Kalamansi is processed in a facility in the same area, and the product is preservative-free, frozen, and has a shelf life of two years. Another product that excites us is the locally grown Vanilla Bean Pod, which is also processed and fermented in Laguna. The vanilla vines were planted by a young farmer on several hectares of mountainous land five years ago. He learned how to grow and process vanilla through experimentation and online research.

We are continuously seeking other local products, such as coconut and avocado, which can be minimally processed through pasteurization and freezing to avoid the use of preservatives. However, during our search for these ingredients, we discovered that the supply of avocados and coconuts in the Batangas and Laguna areas is dwindling as farmers have sold their land to developers.

The demand for locally grown food ingredients is increasing both domestically and for export. However, we are now facing challenges in sourcing due to land conversion.

Recently, we joined a tour of business farmers to visit farms in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. All the farms we visited were still family-owned, with sizes ranging from one to five hectares. What impressed us most was that their harvest yields for fruits like mangoes and avocados are about five times higher than ours per hectare. The farmers credited their Agriculture Department, which supports them with the right technology, subsidies for seedlings, and organic materials to boost their production.

We hope that our government and concerned authorities will address the issue of land conversion and provide greater support for farmers to preserve and boost local agricultural production.