Representatives Paolo Duterte and Omar Duterte have filed a bill seeking to establish a national development program for the country’s growing ube industry, aiming to address long-standing challenges faced by local purple yam farmers amid rising global demand.
Economic Opportunity and Challenges
The lawmakers said the expanding international market for Philippine ube presents a major economic opportunity for the country. However, they noted that local farmers continue to face high production costs, unpredictable weather conditions, limited access to quality planting materials, and fragmented supply chains that prevent them from fully benefiting from the booming export market.
Proposed Structural Reforms
To address these concerns, the proposed measure seeks to introduce structural reforms aimed at strengthening the ube industry from production to export. Under the bill, the government would establish regional ube seed banks and tissue-culture nurseries to provide small farmers with stable access to healthy and high-quality planting materials.
Export Brand Protection
The proposal also seeks to create an export brand protection framework to preserve the authenticity and global reputation of Philippine ube against imitation products in the international market.
Streamlined Value Chain
In addition, the bill aims to streamline the value chain by directly linking farmer cooperatives with major food processors and commercial buyers. The system seeks to help farmers secure fairer prices while reducing dependence on middlemen.
Vision for the Industry
Through the measure, Paolo and Omar Duterte said they aim to transform high-value agricultural products such as ube into a sustainable national enterprise capable of generating long-term income and rural development opportunities. The lawmakers said a comprehensive national development program would help ensure that the benefits of the growing global ube market directly reach farming communities that sustain the industry.
