Some of the Hungduan women training on making candies from ginger under the GEF-funded Dynamic Conservation and Sustainable Use of Agro-Biodiversity in Traditional Agro-Ecosystems of the Philippines project.

At 53, Conchita Calingayan was determined to find a way to earn more money. Being from Hungduan – one of the towns that host the famed Philippine Rice Terraces in Ifugao Province – farmers like her earn limited income because they could only produce a certain volume of rice from their small plots of land. When the Dynamic Conservation and Sustainable Use of Agro-Biodiversity in Traditional Agro-Ecosystems of the Philippines project (or simply the ABD project) came to her locality, the initiative gave Conchita – as well as other like her – the opportunity to do just that: to earn more and carve out a better way of life. 

The ABD project, which is jointly implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR), started its implementation in Hungduan in 2018. One of the groups it partnered with was the Dackitan Farmers Organization, of which Conchita is a member. The group, which was already registered since 2016 with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), was also a partner-beneficiary of a previous Rice-Fish-Duck Culture project under the Community Participatory Action Research program of the DA-BAR.

Through the ABD project, the members learned how to process the native ginger commonly grown in their community into candy snack. This was a welcome skills addition to Conchita, who already knew how to extract ginger juice to make into tea. This also meant that no part of the root crop would go to waste as the ginger’s fiber, which is usually leftover from extracting the juice, is the main ingredient for the candy.

The project selected ginger, along with taro, for its high-value products component because they were abundantly produced in the area. Hungduan locals usually use the root crop in cooking and in traditional medicine. Additionally, the native ginger, which is spicier than other varieties and a very good source of essential nutrients, is also traditionally brewed as tea by the residents of the mountain community to stay warm.

Conchita earns PhP160 (about USD 3.20) per kilo of ginger candy and PhP193 (about USD 3.86) per kilo from the tea, which give her significant earnings considering that ginger, when sold as raw roots, fetches only PhP20 (USD 4.00) per kilo. The additional income has enabled Conchita and the two other processors of the Dackitan Farmers Organization – also women who belong to the Tuwali Indigenous Peoples groups – to buy essential food and other household supplies as well as to support their children’s schooling. They also set aside some of their earnings to purchase ingredients and other materials needed to produce their subsequent batches of ginger products.

Currently, the Dackitan Farmers Organization sell their products locally such as at the barangay food terminal at the Hungduan Poblacion and at the Ohayami bus terminal, among others. The tea in particular has become a hit these days, as people have been buying them to ward off the common cold, sore throat, and other ailments, especially given the COVID-19 scare. Prior to the school closures and community quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ginger candy was also sold at one school. Buyers found the ginger candy to be a tastier and healthier alternative to the common commercially produced sugary candies sold in grocery stores and supermarket. The product has become so popular that, with the support of local government partners, it has also found its way onto local and national agri-food and trade fairs.

Given the initial success of their product, the ginger candy producers now aim to expand their business by establishing a processing center. In the meantime, while waiting for this to be realized, the women have already begun diversifying by producing squash candies using the same technique as producing their well-received ginger candies.

The concept of adding value to their ABD crops by processing them into high-value products as introduced by the project has allowed the women to earn better incomes than selling the crops in their unprocessed form. This has also helped the community address the issue of surplus production of ginger and other ABD crops, turning potential food waste into income opportunities.

“More than the knowledge and skills on food processing that I picked-up from the project that enabled me and my colleagues to enjoy the ‘sweetness’ of being able to earn more income from the ‘spicy’ root crop, I learned to appreciate more the values of sipag and tiyaga [hard work and perseverance]”, Conchita related. 

Gemma Dimog, the resource person who trained the women in ginger candies production, says she feels a sense of accomplishment whenever she sees the products that she helped the women to produce being sold in market outlets and agri-food fairs. She says that this shows that the women have evolved from being raw materials producers into business-minded entrepreneurs.

“It is my hope that the Hungduan enterprise groups would share their knowledge and experience to other IP women farmers to encourage them to also engage in entrepreneurial activities that could provide a means to a better life for them.”

“This becomes even more relevant during this COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the importance of being self-reliant in terms of food and income security. I hope that national and local government entities see and realize what the Hungduan women have been able to accomplish and continue to support and invest in community-based, small-scale enterprise groups such as the Dackitan Farmers Organization.”

“Supporting such groups to sustain their entrepreneurial initiatives will definitely go a long way in helping build the socioeconomic resilience of local communities especially during times of crises, which is a win-win for everyone,” she concluded.