TRADE AND MARKETING Filipinos in search of varieties for g Mr Adrie de Roo is on the Agriculture, Nature Management and Food Quality Board for the Philippines on behalf of the Netherlands. He recently consulted with the Philippines Minister for Agriculture about the possibility of growing potatoes that are suitable for processing on the islands. The suggestion stems from the need to save foreign currency and to give added value to the local potato chain. Also discussed was the possible role of the Dutch trade sector in this proposal. Anton Haverkort and Romke Wustman – researchers at Wageningen University – were asked to study the feasibility of these proposals. The Philippines are an archipelago with a surface of nearly eight times that of the Netherlands. The seven thousand or more islands of this country are situated to the north of Indonesia. For centuries, it has been a Spanish colony, which is why the people have Spanish names and why this is the only Christian (Roman Catholic) Asian country. It has also been a colony of the Unites States of America for forty years, and it is for this reason that English is the second and also the official language of the country. The country has nearly 90 million inhabitants and 5.5 million hectares of arable land; the main crop is rice. Maize is also an important food crop and potatoes are seen as a common vegetable, as are onions and tomatoes. The locally-grown potatoes are destined only for the fresh market and are not processed. This does not mean that Filipinos do not eat processed potatoes. But for that they import suitable potatoes which are processed into crisps in the Philippines. They also import ready-to-eat crisps and deep-frozen chips for delivery to the many fastfood restaurants they have. 28 Potato World 2010 • number 2 Pagina 27
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