Purple Rain, Purple Pain: Baguio’s ube boom outgrows Cordillera farms - Rappler

If you saw the weekend queue for ube jam at Good Shepherd Convent or even at the Baguio Market, you would say that the real Baguio gold is purple.

But the real situation is far from your melt-in-the-mouth ube halaya.

The Cordillera grows only a small fraction of ube or purple yam needed to sustain its expanding ube industry.

The mismatch is particularly evident in Baguio, where ube has become a familiar feature of the city’s food and tourism identity despite the Cordillera Administrative Region accounting for less than 2 percent of the country’s recorded ube production in 2025.

Based on 2025 production figures, the Cordillera Administrative Region produced about 210 metric tons of ube out of a national total of 12,180 metric tons. That translates to approximately 1.7% of the country’s recorded output, calculated by dividing the region’s production by the national total and multiplying by 100. The figure measures the Cordillera’s share of harvested ube, not the proportion of land devoted to the crop.

The mismatch is particularly evident at the Mountain Maid Training Center of the Religious of the Good Shepherd, whose ube jam has become one of Baguio’s most recognizable pasalubong products.

The center’s kitchen has a processing capacity of about 20 metric tons of ube a month, or as much as 240 metric tons annually if operating at full capacity. That potential annual requirement exceeds the Cordillera Administrative Region’s recorded ube harvest of approximately 210 metric tons in 2025.

The comparison poses a caveat.Processing capacity is not actual consumption, and Mountain Maid sources raw materials from Benguet, Ilocos Sur, and La Union. 

Nevertheless, the figures illustrate the disparity between Baguio’s established processing industry and the relatively small agricultural base supporting it.

The figures refer specifically to ube, or greater yam (Dioscorea alata), rather than root crops generally.

Baguio’s ube economy, in other words, extends well beyond the volume of purple yam grown in the mountains.

The vulnerability of the supply chain became particularly evident in 2019, when the Good Shepherd Convent ran out of its signature purple ube jam for more than a month and temporarily offered a white-fleshed variety instead.

In September that year, the Religious of the Good Shepherd announced that supplies of purple ube from Cordillera farmers had run out. The convent’s store had been without jam, whether purple or white, since Aug. 2, an unusually prolonged interruption even though July to September is normally the crop’s off-season.

The sisters attributed the shortage partly to El Niño, which dried ube vines and stunted tuber growth. They also cited the continuing difficulty of securing a stable supply of quality purple yam.

To keep its product line going, the convent temporarily sold white ube jam made from a white-fleshed variety of the same yam. The sisters said it tasted similar to the purple version, although a 440-gram bottle cost 230 pesos, compared with 210 pesos for the usual purple jam.

The immediate shortage eased when farmers from Emilio, Ilocos Sur, delivered 1 metric ton of purple ube, which the convent bought for 45 pesos per kilogram. But the return of purple jam to store shelves was not immediate. 

The convent said it would first sell its remaining 13 metric tons of white yam, a transition expected to take more than a month.

The episode exposed a problem that continues to confront the industry. Even a well-established processor with a recognizable brand can be vulnerable when harvests are seasonal, planting materials are limited, and weather conditions disrupt production.

More recent reports in 2026 have described recurring sellouts of Good Shepherd’s ube jam, purchase limits, and resale prices substantially above the convent’s retail price. But the more recent situation differs from the genuine supply interruption in 2019.

Reports from early 2026 described customers being limited to two jars per purchase, while resellers reportedly charged about 450 to 600 pesos for jars selling for 350 pesos at the convent.

The resulting complaints from tourists and concerns about hoarding highlighted the pressure created by ube’s growing popularity.

However, reports have also attributed much of the more recent problem to strong demand and limited processing capacity rather than a complete absence of raw ube. 

A convent representative said raw materials were available but processing the tubers into jam was the bottleneck.

The distinction matters. A shortage of harvested ube is an agricultural supply problem; a shortage of finished jam can also reflect limitations in processing, labor, equipment, and production schedules.

For Baguio, where Good Shepherd’s jam is a major pasalubong brand, the two problems can produce empty shelves.

The convent’s ube jam also serves a broader purpose. Its sales help support education and livelihood programs for Cordillera students, linking the product’s commercial success to the institution’s social mission.

The region’s relatively small share of national ube production does not necessarily mean it lacks the potential to expand cultivation. Rather, the gap highlights the difficulty of building a reliable agricultural supply chain around a crop that remains vulnerable to environmental and production constraints.

One obstacle is the limited availability of quality planting materials. The Department of Agriculture in the Cordillera has previously noted that relatively few farmers produce ube planting materials because these are susceptible to pests and diseases.

Climate conditions add another layer of uncertainty. Drought, erratic rainfall, and flooding can damage vines and tubers, making harvests less predictable. Because ube is seasonal, disruptions during the off-season can quickly become visible when a processor needs a steady supply to meet retail demand.

Many farmers also grow ube as a secondary crop rather than their main source of income, limiting their ability or willingness to devote more land and resources to it.

Mountain Maid has sought to stabilize supplies by organizing farmers into associations and offering them a dependable market. 

Reported buying prices have reached about 50 pesos per kilogram during harvest season and as much as 75 pesos per kilogram during rainy-season shortages.

Such arrangements can help farmers gain access to buyers and encourage production. But reliable purchasing arrangements alone cannot guarantee a larger harvest without adequate planting materials, suitable growing conditions, and support for expanding cultivation.

Baguio already has the ingredients of a recognizable ube industry: established processors, a strong tourism market, and a product closely associated with the city. Benguet has an existing agricultural sector, while neighboring provinces such as Ilocos Sur and La Union supply raw materials to processors in the city.

The challenge is to strengthen the production base behind that commercial success.

The Department of Agriculture has suspended exports of fresh ube and propagative planting materials since mid-August 2026, seeking to retain domestic supplies while the country works to expand production. 

Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. said the Philippines needed to strengthen its planting-material base before allowing supplies to flow overseas.

The government has also raised concerns that exporting planting materials could allow other countries to propagate Philippine varieties and eventually compete with local producers.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has approved a 300 million peso allocation for the ube industry in 2027 as the Department of Agriculture works to strengthen production and organize the sector.

The Bureau of Plant Industry and researchers at the University of the Philippines Los Baños are genetically mapping Philippine ube varieties for registration. 

The initiative aims to establish the identity and authenticity of local varieties, protect them against biopiracy, and support the development of higher-yielding varieties that can better withstand pests, diseases, and changing weather conditions.

Other proposed interventions include tissue culture, community-based nurseries, and mini-set propagation to increase the availability of quality planting materials.

For the Cordillera, these efforts could help address a supply problem that affects farmers as well as processors whose products have become closely associated with Baguio.

A stronger supply chain would require more than encouraging farmers to plant additional ube. Growers need planting materials that are readily available and suitable for local conditions, dependable buyers, and prices that make the crop competitive with other agricultural products. Nurseries and propagation facilities could help farmers expand cultivation without relying on uncertain supplies.

United Ube PH Association Inc., which brings together farmers, processors, traders, exporters, researchers, and other stakeholders, is among the groups working to organize the sector and address problems that individual producers cannot resolve alone.

For Baguio, a stronger production base could mean more reliable supplies for local processors, less vulnerability to seasonal shortages, and greater opportunities for farmers across the Cordillera and neighboring provinces.

It could also help ensure that more of the economic benefits reach the people who grow the crop, rather than concentrating largely on processing and marketing.

The Cordillera’s ube story illustrates how a heritage food product sits at the intersection of smallholder agriculture, climate vulnerability, processing capacity, and tourism-driven demand.

Good Shepherd’s experience shows why the phrase “ube shortage” needs context. In 2019, the convent faced a genuine interruption in its supply of raw purple yam, prompting it to offer a white-fleshed alternative. In 2026, recurring sellouts have also reflected strong demand and limited capacity to turn raw materials into finished jam.

Both situations reveal vulnerabilities, but they require different solutions. Farmers need reliable planting materials and support to expand production, while processors need sufficient capacity to handle available harvests. Retailers and consumers, meanwhile, face the effects of seasonal supply and resale pressure.

Baguio has demonstrated how a crop grown across several provinces can become a regional specialty through processing, branding, and tourism. The next challenge is to strengthen the farms and supply networks that sustain that reputation.

The region has learned how to turn purple yam into a product people associate with the mountains. Ensuring that there is enough ube to keep the industry running will require investments not only in processing but also in the farms, planting materials, and farmers behind every jar.

Frank Cimatu is a veteran poet and journalist based in Baguio City. He currently contributes to Rappler and co-runs the Facebook page Mountain Beacon. In 2018 and 2021, he published two poetry collections: Ang Mga Prusisyong Dumaan Sa Unang Bangungot and Birdcatching in Sagada and Other Poems. Prusisyon won the 20th Madrigal-Gonzales Best First Book Award for 2021. He twice won the Palanca for poetry in English and Filipino. He also placed 2nd in the Procyon Awards for Young Filipino Poets. His current collection is a compilation of his works from the onset of the pandemic to the present, following his recollections of nostalgia, pop culture, and political response to the struggles faced by journalists brought by red-tagging.