Analysis of the Strawberry Value Chain in the Philippines

Abstract

With the challenges faced by the strawberry industry prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and its experiences during the pandemic, revisiting the strawberry industry is needed through a value chain approach. This study examined the strawberry value chain of the Philippines and recommends various interventions. The study proceeded in two major phases. The first phase mapped the strawberry value chain and determined the status, problems, and prospects for each node of the value chain: input, production, processing, and marketing. The second phase generated intervention models (blueprints) relating to product, market, resource, process and technology, and human capital development. Interviewed representatives of the potential implementing agencies found these intervention models, in the form of blueprints, workable and acceptable. Primary data were gathered through surveys and key informant interviews conducted online or via phone. Secondary data from journals and similar scholarly work supported the primary data gathered.