Ube Farming Profit Calculator
One hectare of ube at 1m x 1m spacing holds about 10,000 plants. What that hectare earns is decided by two numbers above all others: how many kilos each plant actually yields, and the farmgate price you actually get. Move those two and the answer swings by more than a million pesos. Set your own figures below.
Yield case
The assumption that moves the answer most.
Planting and harvest
Labour and planting material
The two largest cost lines, built from their drivers so you can test a wage rise or a dearer sett.
Labour works out at ₱150,000 and planting material at ₱80,000 on these figures.
Other costs
Machinery is separated because it is the difference between a plan that rents equipment and one that buys a tractor, skid steer or mulcher outright. Buying can add several hundred thousand pesos of capital cost that a per-cycle operating budget hides.
Result
- Gross harvest
- 30,000 kg
- After 15% loss
- 25,500 kg
- Held back as seed
- -1,000 kg
- Saleable
- 24,500 kg
- Revenue
- ₱1,347,500
- Total cost
- ₱295,000
- Profit
- ₱1,052,500
- Return on cost
- 357%
The numbers that decide it
- Breakeven farmgate price
- ₱12 per kilo
- Below this price, the cycle loses money at your stated yield.
- Breakeven yield
- 0.75 kg per plant
- Below this yield, the cycle loses money at your stated price.
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Why two ube farm plans can differ by a million pesos
Farm plans for the same crop, on the same size of land, often land nowhere near each other. The disagreement is almost never about fertiliser or twine. It comes from three places.
- The price assumption. A plan built on the top of the farmgate band and a plan built on the bottom of it will differ by more than double, before a single cost line changes. Peak harvest season is when supply is heaviest and prices are softest, which is exactly when an unsold crop arrives.
- The yield assumption. 1 kg per plant and 5 kg per plant are both defensible numbers depending on variety, spacing, soil and season. They produce a fivefold difference in revenue from identical ground.
- Whether capital cost is counted. Operating cost per cycle and total cost of getting into production are different questions. A plan that buys its own machinery can carry several hundred thousand pesos that a per-cycle budget never shows.
This is why the calculator reports breakeven price and breakeven yield rather than only profit. Profit is the number a plan wants to show you. Breakeven is the number that tells you how much has to go right.
Where these defaults come from
The default farmgate price sits mid-band against published Philippine farmgate price data rather than at the top of it. Yield presets follow the low, mid and high cases that farm plans conventionally model. Cost lines are ordinary line items for a trellised hectare on a 10-month cycle.
The price field is yours to set. It is a planning input drawn from published price ranges, not a purchase offer or a quoted buying price from Philippine Ube Co.
Frequently asked questions
Is ube farming profitable in the Philippines?
It can be, but the answer is decided almost entirely by two numbers: yield per plant and the farmgate price you actually realise. At a mid-case 3 kg per plant and a mid-band farmgate price, one hectare clears a substantial margin over operating cost. At 1 kg per plant, the same hectare barely clears its costs. Any figure quoted without both assumptions stated is not a projection, it is a brochure.
How much does it cost to plant one hectare of ube?
Operating cost for a hectare commonly lands around PHP 250,000 to 350,000 covering land preparation, planting material, trellis, water and fertiliser, and labour across a 10-month cycle. Planting material and labour are the two largest lines. That figure excludes machinery: a plan that buys its own tractor, skid steer or mulcher instead of renting can add hundreds of thousands in capital cost, which is why machinery is a separate input in this calculator.
What yield per hectare should I assume for ube?
At 1m x 1m spacing a hectare holds roughly 10,000 plants. Plans typically model 1 kg per plant as the low case, 3 kg as the mid case and 5 kg as the high case, giving 10,000 kg, 30,000 kg and 50,000 kg gross. Subtract pre-harvest and post-harvest losses, commonly modelled together at around 15 percent, and subtract the tubers held back as planting material for the next cycle.
What farmgate price should I use for ube?
Published farmgate prices for standard cultivars run roughly PHP 40 to 85 per kilo during peak harvest season and higher off-season, with heirloom Kinampay commanding a premium. Use the low end if you are planting into peak-season harvest with no buyer arranged, since that is when supply is heaviest and prices are softest.
What is the breakeven price for ube per kilo?
Breakeven price is total cost divided by saleable kilos, and it is the single most useful number in a farm plan because it tells you the price below which the cycle loses money. This calculator shows it directly. A high-yield hectare drives breakeven down to a few pesos per kilo; a low-yield hectare can push it above the prevailing farmgate price entirely.
Planting ube and want a buyer lined up first?
The biggest risk in these numbers is harvesting into peak season with nowhere to sell. Talk to us before you plant, not after.
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