Sweet smell of success for ‘sampaguita’ growers

MANAOAG, PANGASINAN–With almost surgical precision, Jaypee de Guzman plucks buds from sampaguita growing in his farm.

He drops each of them into large pockets of an apron wrapped around his waist.

It’s a task he has learned to master since 2002 when his family decided to plant sampaguita, also known as Philippine jasmine or Jasminum sambac, in their 1.5-hectare farm in Barangay Baritao here, about 2.5 kilometers southwest of the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag.

Blooming period

He has to harvest as many mature buds as possible, starting at 6 a.m. every day.

Lei makers only want the buds and the sampaguita flowers start to bloom within 12 to 20 hours—opening fully between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. when the temperature drops.

With 2,000 plants to cover, De Guzman and his farm hands spend three hours to choose and harvest the mature buds.

By mid-morning, the buds are sorted and weighed before they are sold to waiting buyers from other Pangasinan towns and neighboring La Union province and Baguio City.

The buyers string the buds into leis, which are peddled to churchgoers and jeepney drivers.

Sampaguita, also known as the national flower, has been a profitable trade for most of the 5,000 Baritao residents, according to barangay captain Victor Ayson Jr.

Growers earn at least P3,000 a day during the peak season from March to May and P700 a day during the off-season, he said.

The price during peak season is from P25 to P30 per “tabo” (dipper). But during off-season, it’s from P100 to P150 per tabo, said Ayson.

Aside from De Guzman, his cousin Ricky and a neighbor are also growing sampaguita commercially in the village. The combined area of their farms is about 5 hectares with more than 5,000 plants, making it the biggest sampaguita plantation in the province.

But it is not only the growers who are earning. The bud pickers, who, Ayson said, usually come from the neighborhood, make P10 for every tabo of sampaguita buds that they collect.

Mercedes Gorospe, 70, who manually assembles the sampaguita buds into leis, said that with a capital of P200 for two dippers of sampaguita buds, she can produce 800 leis.

Using a big needle and an abaca thread, Gorospe skillfully stitches  three sampaguita buds on each side of the lei and attaches a pendant, either an “ylang ylang” or “camia” flower, which is available in her backyard.

She then passes the leis to vendors at P60 for every 100 pieces, orP480 for all the leis she has produced, easily giving her a profit ofP280.

Frankie Cercado, 18, a vendor, said he sells the sampaguita leis at P20 for every bundle consisting of six leis. He said he makes at least P300 a day.

Another vendor, Maryjane Velasco, said that with a capital of P100 to buy the leis, she sells three leis for P10 and earns P120 on weekdays and more on Saturdays and Sundays when pilgrims flock to the church here.

Shift from corn to sampaguita

De Guzman said his father thought of shifting their crop from corn to sampaguita when he saw a neighbor make good from the sampaguita he planted in his backyard.

“We started with 1,000 cuttings, which we bought from Binalonan (town). Then we planted 1,000 more cuttings weeks later,” he said.

Unlike corn, which has to be planted every year, sampaguita is only planted once. “You just have to take care of it by making sure that pests will not feast on its leaves and branches,” De Guzman said.

He said a sampaguita shrub should also be pruned and defoliated at least once a year to initiate flowering and enhance bud production.

Pruning also limits the height of the shrub to below five feet for easier harvesting of buds. “You also have to remove the weeds around the plant regularly and then apply fertilizer,” De Guzman said.

De Guzman and the other farmers did not undergo any training in sampaguita growing. “You just have to be patient and industrious,” he said.

The sampaguita that farmers here are growing is the single petal variety because it flowers year-round, unlike the double petal variety, which flowers only once a year.

At dusk during summer, when the matured sampaguita buds they missed  in the morning finally open into full bloom, a sweet flowery fragrance fills the air in the village.

To De Guzman and the other farmers, it’s the sweet smell of success.