Philippine peanut capital reeling from high labor cost

MANILA, Philippines — The municipality of Enrile in Cagayan stands to lose its title of being the country’s peanut capital as farmers are discouraged from planting the crop due to the high cost of labor.

Municipal councilor Pedro Taganguin, 70, of Barangay Lanna, said local farmers pay a lot for the cultivation of the farms as well as planting, weed removal and harvest of peanuts.

Taganguin said he has been planting peanuts in the past 20 years. He said farmers like him incur losses as they need to pay P150 per worker during planting and harvest, as well as hire tractors and equipment.

During the launch of the Peanut Farms and Industry Encounters through Science and Technology Agenda at the Cagayan State University recently, Enrile Mayor Miguel Decena Jr. warned that his town might lose its title as peanut capital of the country due to the decline in production.

Decena cited data from the municipal agriculture office, showing peanut plantations were down to 250 hectares in nine barangays.

He said peanut farmers could hardly afford to hire workers due to the high cost of labor.

The town was declared the Peanut Capital of the Philippines in 2015 by then agriculture secretary Proceso Alcala.

Taganguin said each farmer used to harvest a maximum of 150 kilos of peanuts. Now they can produce only 40 to 60 kilos of peanuts each, which traders buy at P40 per kilo.

He expressed hope the event would benefit local farmers and revitalize the local peanut production.

“We still want to plant (peanuts). What we want is support from the government,” Taganguin said, noting that farmers need financial assistance to cover the high cost of labor and production.

Meanwhile, Reynaldo Ebora, chief of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development, said the event intends to revitalize the industry. He said the PCAARRD, through its Industry Strategic S&T Program for Legumes, targets to increase the country’s peanut production from 1.24 tons to 3.0 tons per hectare.

The program aims to persuade local government units, investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers and other stakeholders to participate in food security programs as well as improve the peanut industry.