Philippines  

 Agrifood markets are restructuring due to changing consumer demand. Fastfood outlets andsupermarkets expand as a response to consumers' clamor for convenience. The growth of these modern food outlets triggers changes in the food chain. As they continue to expand, opportunities are open to producers to supply as long as they meet their volume, frequency and quality requirements. Many small producers,however, are unable to tap these opportunities as they lack the resources to meet these requirements. Frequency and volume requirements of high value markets are difficult to comply with because of high transaction and consolidation costs. Moreover, small scale producers also lack financial resources to invest intechnology to meet the quality standards of high value markets.  

These are just some of the many challenges faced by small scale kalamansi producers in Siay, Zamboanga Sibugay, Philippines in marketing their produce. They are simply just too far from the major markets such as Metro Manila. In fact, the cost to market in Metro Manila is about Php14 per kilogram which is more than three times to produce a kilo of kalamansi.  However, during low production of kalamansi in Luzon particularly in Mindoro province, the main kalamansi producing area in the country, sourcing kalamansi from the south of Philippines becomes feasible. Price during this season is high enough to cover marketing cost.  

 Jollibee Foods Corporation, for example, as part of their corporate social responsibility gave these producers from Siay a chance to supply them fresh kalamansi. After several trials of shipping fresh kalamansi to Metro Manila to meet their shelf life requirement, it was found that it is simply not feasible.   The cost of transport including the cost of extending shelf life through modified atmospheric packaging to meet Jollibee requirement is too high to make price of Siay producers acceptable to Jollibee.

 Producers that are far from main markets become simply uncompetitive because of high marketing cost.  Consolidation through clustering of producers to meet volume and quality requirements can lower transaction costs and marketing costs. However, distance from the market simply increases marketing costs because of high shipping and transportation costs. These issues have always been raised by entrepreneurs from Mindanao. While there have been some improvements in port handling costs through the efforts of the government, there are still a lot of things to be done to lower shipping and land transportation costs. Infrastructure development and policies need to be in place to enable small scale producers from the South become more competitive and tap market opportunities.  Agrifood markets are restructuring due to changing consumer demand. Fastfood outlets and supermarkets expand as a response to consumers' clamor for convenience. The growth of these modern food outlets triggers changes in the food chain. As they continue to expand, opportunities are open to producers to supply as long as they meet their volume, frequency and quality requirements. Many small producers,however, are unable to tap these opportunities as they lack the resources to meet these requirements. Frequency and volume requirements of high value markets are difficult to comply with because of high transaction and consolidation costs. Moreover, small scale producers also lack financial resources to invest in technology to meet the quality standards of high value markets.