SOME 3,000 farmers in the Ilocos provinces are proud of their 'Ilocos red" tomatoes, and they should be.

The special tomato variety that grows only in this part of the Philippines has a deep, red color and is as juicy as it looks. The meat is thick and stays fresh longer than the other types of tomato.

Ilocos red is also hardier than most, with its skin not as easily bruised and battered as its cousins. This is good news indeed for quality control people who demand that their tomatoes look as good as they taste.

The Ilocos red tomatoes are thus the perfect type to be processed into tomato paste--a main ingredient used in manufacturing different types of tomato-based sauces.

They are also much sought after by those who just want to sink their teeth into a ripe, crunchy fresh tomato with bagoong on the side.

Institutional buyers in the Philippines, such as Jollibee Foods Corp., get to enjoy the essence of the Ilocos red because of the dogged efforts of the Northern Foods Corp., which bred the Ilocos red variety in its laboratory, to keep its tomato paste manufacturing facility in Sarrat up and running as efficiently as mechanically possible.

NFC chair Bernardo J.B. Mitra said it was a challenge, to say the least, to keep the facility in commercial operation because it is 25 years old, thus is no longer as cost-efficient as it used to be.

The state-run NFC, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture and the country's largest tomato paste manufacturing company, produces about 6,000 metric tons of tomato paste a year and the volume is equivalent to about 30 percent of the local tomato paste market.

This market share has gone down to 16-18 percent because NFC is losing part of its sales to competitors from China, which has more hectares devoted to tomato plantations, compared to only 500-800 hectares spread across a number of towns in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, including Paoay, Sarrat, Vintar and Sinait, Cabugao and Narvacan.

Mitra says NFC manages to keep a significant share of the tomato paste market because local industries prefer to help the local farmers and also the simple fact that the Ilocos red just tastes so much better than the competition.

He says, however, that NFC could not bank on just the taste to keep its customers loyal.

It also has to sell its tomato paste at a price that can compare with those in China and this would entail vital investments in modernizing the old plant.

"Operating the plant is just like driving a 25-year-old car. It no longer performs as expected and is prone to breakdowns," Mitra explains to the Inquirer.

"We have already done everything possible outside putting in new facilities to improve the plant's performance. But because of the age, we are like a Volkswagen competing against the Toyota Camrys of China," Mitra adds.

NFC's plant is into production only in the first three months of the year. The following months are devoted to marketing and sales activities and by July, NFC is busy planning for the next production season.

The rest of the year is then devoted to helping the farmers tend to their tomato plantations, improve their yields and address their concerns.

NFC also devotes time to maintaining the aging plant and making it ready to accept the next year's volume. An estimated 500 tons of tomatoes pass through the NFC's doors every day during production season.

"It's already a miracle that we have lasted this long. But if we don't improve the facility, it won't last much longer. It is possible that the plant will have to be shut down," he says.

This will spell disaster to the 3,000 farmers who depend mainly on the sale of tomatoes to NFC for their livelihood.

NFC is, after all, the biggest employer in the region and also the biggest taxpayer.

"We want to continue being a big employer in the region. We want to keep the farmers happy. That's why we need the investment," Mitra says.

NFC has brought its case to Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap, with NFC president and CEO Marcus Luis T. Quintos asking for some P200 million of the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund to improve the production efficiency of the old plant.

Mitra says that with the additional capital, the plant would be able to produce better quality tomato paste out of the same volume of tomatoes, which should make the company more profitable.

NFC currently requires about six kilos of fresh tomatoes to make one kilo of tomato paste.

He adds that part of the money would also allow NFC to package smaller quantities of tomato paste, aside from the large drum, to cater to smaller institutional clients, such as hotels and restaurants that heavily use tomato sauce.

"We are also looking into the possibility of using organically certified tomatoes to cater to a higher end market like Europe," Mitra says.

NFC still has big plans for the tomato processing facility. All it needs, he says, was more than a little help from its friends.