The Department of Agriculture (DA) has issued a special order (SO) to create a program management group (PMG) and a technical working group (TWG) that will implement the country’s Sustainable Potato Program (SPP).
The SO 596 series of 2025 was signed on April 10, 2025, but was only made public Monday, April 14. It shows that SPP aims to enhance local food sufficiency and increase farmer’s profitability by adopting advanced technologies in establishing sustainable potato seed systems and modernizing agricultural practices.
The SPP was first cobbled together by the DA in 2019, with the aim to help establish reliable seeds systems, capacitate potato farmers organizations and boost farm productivity and farmers’ income in top potato-producing regions.
Under the 2025 SO, the PMG will oversee the overall implementation of the project by providing policy direction and guidance for the TWG to anchor cooperatives, partners and beneficiaries in meeting sustainability goals and objectives.
The PMG will also review project documents and approve corresponding implementing guidelines to ensure coherent structure for the effective management and timely implementation. It will also lead meetings and consultations with farmer cooperatives and associations (FCAs) to address potential causes of delays and challenges that may arise in program implementation.
Likewise, the SO also empowered the PMG to provide capacity building opportunities and technical advice to farmers on good agricultural practices, seed multiplication, pest and disease management, storage, handling and marketing while also leading the allocation of budget for the conduct and support of potato-related research and farming innovations.
The PMG will be joined by representatives from the private sector, particularly those directly engaged in the potato industry development.
On the other hand, the SO said the TWG will provide technical work and recommendations to the PMG to ensure the efficient and timely execution of project activities and deliverables and will be composed of staff from DA offices and attached agencies.
The TWG will also ensure that time-bound implementation of project activities are achieved, activity-based monitoring is conducted and regular coordination and updating are placed to effectively realize the objectives of the SPP.
The TWG will mainly prepare the logical framework to be approved by the PMG while also being in charge of inspection of identified seed production sites and field visits to provide recommendations for the proposed expansion areas to complete the potato seed life cycle.
It will ensure efficient processing of documents, regularly update the PMG on performance indicators of the project and prepare an exit plan for anchor FCAs to take on the expansion and commercialization of the SPP project.
Last year, the DA said that it signed a five-year agreement with Universal Robina Corp. (URC) to jointly establish and continue implementing the SPP to upscale and expand production areas in the Cordilleras, Bukidnon and Davao provinces.
The URC, whose snack brands include potato chips that are marketed in the Philippines and abroad, previously distributed around 506 metric tons (MT) of high-quality potato seeds in the three regions, which were planted in 202 hectares of land.
The DA said the distributed seeds yielded a maximum of 45 MT per hectare of potatoes with a total estimated production of 23,000 MT.
Based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country produced 102,790.84 MT of potato in 2024, 2.7 percent higher than 2023’s 100,054.60 MT.
However, based on data from the PSA, the value of potato harvests in 2024 was at P5.31 billion, a 27.7 percent slump from 2023’s P7.34 billion.
