THERE is currently much excitement about the lowly root crop called ube, or purple yam. It springs from skyrocketing world market demand for this tuber as a flavoring ingredient for drinks, confectioneries and desserts.
Ube’s vibrant purple color and distinct flavor have made it a sought-after ingredient in the international culinary scene. In turn, the increasing demand has resulted in supply chain challenges, especially since the Philippines is one of its main producers.
Ube (Dioscorea alata) is a staple root crop in the country, widely cultivated for its color, flavor and nutritional benefits. It is a native plant that has been planted in the Philippines for centuries. Ube thrives in well-drained, sloping areas with loamy soils, and a warm and humid climate, making it well-suited for tropical regions. It is commonly propagated through tuber cuttings or vine cuttings, with a growing cycle of about nine to 11 months before harvest. Farmers sell fresh ube tubers to local traders, wet markets and food processors.
The tubers are processed into products such as jams, frozen ube and powder to extend shelf life and generate greater revenues. These processed forms cater to both local and international markets, allowing for year-round availability and easier incorporation into food manufacturing. Processing ube involves hot air dehydration techniques and the processed products are the ones exported to the United States, Europe and other countries.
Ube powder offers convenience and a longer shelf life, making it popular among food manufacturers and home cooks. Leading exporters include China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Major importers include the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and Germany, indicating a robust global demand.
The Philippines produced around 12,483 metric tons (MT) of fresh ube in 2025, a 6.71-percent decrease from the previous year. The top producing regions include Central Visayas, Calabarzon, Cagayan Valley and Northern Mindanao. The top-producing provinces are Bohol, Cagayan, Quezon, Lanao del Norte and Leyte.
The total ube production area in 2025 was a measly 2,367.08 hectares (ha), a 17.1-percent decrease from the previous year. Sadly, local production has been declining over the past decade, with volume having peaked at 14,464.83 MT in 2018 before falling to 12,483.31 MT in 2025, an 11.9-decrease decrease from 2016 and a 6.7-percent drop from 2024.
The total harvested area contracted from 2,854.94 ha in 2024. Notably, the steeper decline in area compared to volume resulted in an improvement in yield per hectare, rising from 4.69 MT/ha in 2024 to 5.27 MT/ha in 2025 (a 12.5-percent increase), suggesting that ube farmers were producing more efficiently.
Given all these figures (culled from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s website), the interesting question to ask is if we can take advantage of the boom in the world market for ube? We can, but there are major obstacles.
First, we are short of quality planting materials. The main reason is that the government did not have the strategic vision of investing in varietal improvements of plants with export potentials such as mango, coffee, cacao, durian, etc., much more a minor crop like ube. The bulk of funding research goes to rice.
But what if we propagate more ube planting materials via tissue culture technology? An agriculturist told me that it would take time to mass produce tissue cultured planting material. It takes eight to 10 months before the mother tuber is harvested, and unlike corn or palay that yield hundreds of seeds, one is limited to harvesting a few planting materials from the ube tuber.
After harvest, tissue culture can then proceed, which means another eight to 10-month wait. Only then can the new batch of tissue-cultured plants be propagated as planting material stock. In other words, it will take around two-and-half years before mass cultivation can be done using tissue-cultured planting materials. Whether ube will maintain the same world market interest by then is an uncertainty.
Another problem relates on how to incentivize farmers. Note that ube is a perennial and not a cash crop. It takes around nine to 10 months before it can be harvested. Within the eight-month growth period, a small farmer will have no source of income. This explains why ube is treated as a side crop.
The normal practice is that in a hectare of land, around 500 to 600 square meters are devoted to ube cultivation while the rest is planted to cash crops like corn and vegetables. These crops provide the tiller an income in four months or twice a year before harvesting ube at the end of the planting year.
Another hurdle is price. There are complaints that while ube is a boon for traders, processors and exporters, it a bane for small farmers because of the low prices they receive during the harvest season. Unless a guaranteed price reflecting a fair share of the benefits of the ube boom is offered, it will not be easy to encourage more ube cultivation.
There are more challenges awaiting ube with regard to processing and marketing, ranging from inadequate storage facilities, compliance with local and international sanitary standards, and competition from neighboring countries.
Vietnam has successfully applied for geographical indication system approval of its version of ube named Ben Ke. If the Vietnamese crop becomes dominant in the export market, it will slowly erase ube name in international trade. It is thus important to register our native ube, such as the one grown in Bohol called kinampay.
But for us to secure GIS for local ube, we need to do research and show its unique qualities, reputation or characteristics essentially attributable to geographic origin such as soil, climate or farming methods. Unfortunately, there is little effort being conducted along this line.
The point that has to emphasized is that if the government wants to develop ube as a successful export commodity, it has to address bottlenecks along the value chain. This is where the challenge lies, because the government has the tendency to work in silos.
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