By MELPHA M. ABELLO
January 29, 2010, 2:09pm
Manila Bulletin

A manufacturer of sweet preserves is in need of additional supply of ubi tubers due to the increasing demand for high quality ubi jam and puree that it supplies to major bakeshops and food chains.
Engr. Crispin Muyrong, vice president of Sunlight Food Corporation situated in Marikina City said that the company will require a minimum of 250 metric tons (mt) of ubi tubers this year for the production of ubi jam and ubi puree, which are Sunlight’s flagship products.
The company has been getting its ubi supply from growers in Northern Luzon, CALABARZON, Palawan and Mindanao. However, Muyrong said that this year sees a decrease in ubi growers’ production due to the effect of climate change and the damage brought about by pests and diseases, especially the fungal disease called yam anthracnose.
For instance, he cited a supplier from Palawan who used to supply the company around 100 mt of ubi a year was unable deliver in 2009 because his plantation was affected by diseases and would take two to three years to recover.
Engr. Muyrong has high hopes that a recent partnership with ubi growers in Ilocos through the help of a friend from Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University will help increase the supply of this valuable rootcrop. His friend who has initially established a 1-hectare ubi plantation and a processing plant, supplies Sunlight with dried ubi at a rate of 100 kilograms (kg) per week. Engr. Muyrong expects this volume to increase up to 400 kg per week with the expansion of the processing plant and the additional production from farmers.
He said that it would be better if ubi is delivered in a semi-processed form (dried) as these are priced higher and processing these would create additional livelihood for the community folk especially for those who are in far areas.
At current market price, Sunlight buys fresh ubi tubers at P12-P15 and the dried ubi chips for P250-P300 per kg.
Sunlight Food Corporation which rose from being a backyard venture in 2001 to a medium-scale enterprise that it is today through the assistance of the Department of Science and Technology, also manufactures preserved macapuno, langka, buko, banana (saba and lakatan), carrots and strawberry which it supplies to major food chains. It also exports some of its bottled preserves through consolidators.