The SPFTC production plant

In a small sleepy village outside of Cebu lies the heart of SPFTC’s Fair Trade production of their products, which include dried mangoes, mango balls, dried manangy, dried spices, tamerind, and virgin coconut oil. Theirs is an environmentally sound development consisting of a production area, an office, workshops, delivery vehicles all alongside allotments, plants and trees. We were shown around their site, which was built 16 years ago on leased land. The site gradually grew over the years, designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible. This was evident form the moment we drove through the entrance of the plant; pass gates and fences made from recycled plastic bottles. A great idea and a cleaver solution to the huge problem of plastic recycling and garbage disposal.

Rolo, the manager and overseer of the production side of SPFTC’s products showed us around. He’s sense of humour and approachable manor, made the tour really interesting. Rolo knew every statistic, all the ins and outs and had insightful answers for our every question. We are very grateful for his patience with us and for letting us pick his brain on the production processes.

The main body of the site is their production area that is made from three cargo containers. We were told that along with using a cheap recyclable structure, it was also chosen as an easy means of moving if they had to due to not owning the land their site is on.  

The SPFTC office was also made from a cargo container, which had a bit of work done to it. With wooden floors, an out door seating area and two large office spaces for admin. 

The grounds consisted of two mango trees, banana trees, managy trees and tamarind. Only the tamarind was grown for the processing process. The other produce came in from Fair Trade suppliers from around Cebu for production. The plants on sight were mainly for experimental processes only.

When we were there, SPFTC were experimenting with making mango balls from dried mangoes as an alternative healthy snack. And instead of buying in machines, Rolo and his team of engineers were coming up with their own inventions in production machines. 

Mango ball machine in the making

We were shown through the steps of process when making dried mangos, which is the same for other dried fruits, but with different timings in the process for depending on the water content of the fruit. We had to wear funny protective gear so not to contaminate the sanitised production areas. As no mangoes were being processed at the time, we weren’t actually able to see much production, but the picture give a good idea of the steps.

Rolo (left), shows us the production stages for dried mango in a sanitised container

1. Fist we were shown the area in which the mangoes are cleaned, peeled and sliced. Each mango had two large slices and four small slices. They had designed special peelers specifically for the mangoes so the inside fruit isn’t damaged and little flesh is removed with the skin. 

SPFTC's own design for a mango peeler

When we were there, a batch of malangy had come in for a similar process, they were placed in the cleaning up room to be ready to be processed. 

Malangy, ready to be processed

2. Then the mangoes are placed in large bowls filled with a syrup which then goes into an osmosis tank. This helps remove with the osmosis process, removing the water from the fruit. As mangoes are 80% water, the process of removing the water takes longer then a lot of other fruit. The mangoes are left in syrup for a day.    

3. After being removed from the syrup, the mangoes have lost 15% of their water. They are then blanched in hot water to remove excess syrup.

4.  They are then placed on racks that go into the dehydration ovens. This gives the mangoes a steady warm heat and an air flow allowing the mangoes to dry fully and lose all their water so they are just fruit. SPFTC has two dehydrating ovens that are heated using a water system that heats up from burning natural waste from coconuts, mango skins, and other waste from the plant. This process takes a day also.

Dehydration ovens

      5.. After the dried mango comes out of the dehydrator it has lost all water and is pure fruit. They are left to sit in dark room, then packaged and labelled on site. 

    6. From 1000kg of mangoes the outcome is 150kg of dried mangoes. The mango stone is used in making mango puree. The stone is put through a specially design machine which removes as much pulp as possible. The pulp is then used to make mango juice. The syrup used in the osmosis process is also used in their juices. 

7. Each batch goes through quality control. A sample from each batch is kept if any future problems were to occur. 

Mangoes ready for export

After our tour, we were taken to the meeting room for refreshments and snacks. Her we discovered the full extent of the scale of work SPFTC did. To meet demands from the West and Japan, they had to make changes in their machines, in their production methods, in their packaging and labelling. This was interesting to hear. The changes took a long time, but there were creative solutions around this. For example, the dehydrators were run on a reverse fridge system. This was extremely bad for energy consumption, but with help and guidance, they came up with a water system that was heated using waste from the site.

Cleaver solutions like this and the inventions of machines for the production process not only makes me feel like SPFTC are advanced compare to larger producers in the Cebu area, but that they are very good at adapting to a greener, more sustainable way of manufacturing.

We had a great time, at the production plant. I almost have a problem calling it a “production plant”, because it didn't feel like that at all. It felt more like a place where good ideas sprang and greener possibilities were seen. It felt homely, lush with vegetation, clean, welcoming, and most of all a good example for production of similar products around the world.   

“Nearly Organic!” Mango Farmers, GBP Pusto - Carcar

Joel (right) and the Mango Farmers

Two hours car journey west of Cebu City, and 45 minuets by foot, high up in the Carcar mountains (and I mean really high up in the mountains), are 16 mango trees and 6 enthusiastic mango farmers. The journey by foot we were told is not too bad, you can wear flip-flops and do it easily. Well as we found out that was a huge exaggeration.  No motorised vehicles could go up after a certain point as the path get rockier and steeper, and even by foot, it was very dangerous as we carried our picnic in one hand and tried to balance with the other. I was surprised when we were told the mango farmers go down the same rout with 50kg of mangoes on their heads! 

View from the top, with the sea, which can just be seen form behind the mountains

Once we got to the top, we understood the reason for the location. On a hill, direct sunlight, cool breeze from the sea, and seclusion. We had a picnic with the farmers and then took a brief moment to absorb our surroundings.

Our epic picnic, with Yam, Hanging rice, Chicken,
Fish cakes, peanut butter  sandwiches and fresh coconuts

The six farmers of GBP came together with the help of Joel, from Safi and The Cebu Fair Trade Network, in an attempt to see whether the once heavily sprayed Mango trees can return to being 100% organic. Joel warned the farmers the road would be hard and there would be loses to start with, but if successful, the farmers would stand as an example to many other Mango farmers in Cebu. The farmers were brave and took the risk on their 16 medium sized mango trees.

As the trees had been sprayed heavily for 40-50 ears, with each year the percentage dose of chemicals increasing, the trees were in a bad state. Mango trees should only harvest once a year, but these trees were being harvested at least three times a year. There were 16 course of spaying done in each harvest. Meaning the tree was sprayed with chemicals 48 times in one year. There was a spray to increase the flowering of the tree, a spray for the insects (which also killed the good insects), a spray for the weeds and a spray for the mangoes. Sometimes the farmers never read the labels with instruction of dosage ratio, and often over dosed the tree. Sometimes the chemical company would put ground up insects in the spray, resulting in more tree pests, thus the farmer having to buy more pesticide spray. This all resulted in the trees and insects being more and more immune to the chemicals, and with the chemicals, not producing any fruit. 

One of the 16 mango trees

So Joel had a big job on his hand, and he needed to come up with a way of weaning the trees of the chemicals. The way he and SAFI suggested the farmers do this, was to still spray the trees, but to reduce the dosage each time, and eventually only harvesting the tree once a year. This meant the trees would still produce mangos, but each year the yield would decline, but as it did the mangoes were making their way to being more organic.

This process began in 2005, and next year they are hoping to have 100% organic mangoes. The trees looked healthy and the farmers even reported less insects. The numbers are estimated to be 3,000 mangoes per tree. This makes 48,000 mangoes in total for the harvest. It was so good to see the farmers were happy to have been taking a risk which they saw as being beneficial. From talking to other Fair Trade organisation I got the impression that some mango farmers still didn't see the benefits of changing when they could sell mangoes in the market, as organic doesn't have any weight in the smaller local markets. The farmers of GBP had good training from SAFI, and with Joel, they see a positive future in which they can produce marketable mangos which will reach a higher price, and have healthy trees which they can pass down to their children.  

Sat under the mango trees

The mangoes will then be sold to SPFTC to be processed into mango products, which get turned into dried mangoes, mango puree, mango jam, and mango juice. These will be exported to Japan, Itally, Germany, England, Hong Kong and Singapore.