The said SSF, located in Patnongon town, offers improved technologies in processing cacao seeds.

Business owner and cacao processor Ramon Iwag said that the SSF can only be maximized when there is a sufficient supply of beans, noting that the current local supply is not enough to sustain the demand for processing into products like tablea, syrup, and cocoa powder.

While there are local producers, Iwag sources out the bulk of cacao beans from nearby provinces with the majority coming from as far as Davao.

For his part, Provincial Livelihood and Promotion Council focal person Brian Encarnacion, on behalf of Vice Governor Edgar Denosta, presented the legal basis of cacao development in the province as stipulated in Provincial Ordinance No. 2020-235 or the “Ordinance Creating the Provincial Task Force for Cacao Inventory and Development in the Province of Antique.”

The ordinance seeks to boost the support of cacao farmers by securing quality cacao seedlings, training and the protection of farmers, and propagation of cacao as a major commodity in the province. (AAL/BPS/PIA Antique)