Aboitiz: Phl must be ready for local, foreign investments
Concepcion said agri-microentrepreneurs, given public and private sector support, can help address the country’s food security.
Daily TribuneConcepcion said agri-microentrepreneurs, given public and private sector support, can help address the country’s food security.
Businessmen Sabin Aboitiz and Joey Concepcion have urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during a recent meeting to scale up support to medium, small and micro enterprises in order to generate more jobs for Filipinos.
Aboitiz's and Concepcion's message came amid a recent pronouncement by Mr. Marcos that the drop in the unemployment rate in the country somehow eased the pain of the inflation rate hitting eight percent last November.
The Aboitiz Group CEO leads the Private Sector Advisory Council giving regular inputs to the President on business and other economic matters. Concepcion leads the council's jobs sector.
Said council asked the President to ensure that the country is prepared to receive local and foreign investments.
Concepcion, founder of the Go Negosyo organization that backs up-and-coming businesses, pointed out that agri-microentrepreneurs, given public and private sector support, can help address the country's food security.
He noted how MSMEs have provided more than 62 percent of jobs in the Philippines. Still, the businessman said providing support for microentrepreneurs in the agriculture sector is a more challenging task than in the retail sector.
Contract farming
Scaling up the operations of agri-microentrepreneurs would require the participation of large companies, Concepcion added.
He then cited Lionheart Farms as a large company successfully helping smaller farmers. The Palawan-based company specializes in organic farming. Lionheart CEO Christian Moeller has presented to the agriculture players the concept of nucleus estate farming.
NEF is a form of contract farming wherein big companies provide initial investments and resources necessary for a farm to profitably operate through the signing of contractual agreements.
Lionheart Farms has reported that opportunities for entrepreneurship and businesses have risen significantly in the town of Rizal, where it is based. After only a few years of operation, it has become one of the largest employers in Palawan, it said.
Universal Leaf Phils., Bounty Fresh Food, Nestlé and SL Agritech are the other large companies that have realized the benefits of including in their value chain the small companies that support their operations.
Concepcion revealed he plans to focus on agri-microentrepreneurs their Kapatid Angat Lahat program started in 2016 to encourage medium and large corporations to help micro and small enterprises by including them in their value chain.
"We are not talking here of dole outs, but of a sustainable and inclusive way where both parties can benefit and prosper," Concepcion explained in an earlier statement.
LGUs' role
"Kapatid Angat Lahat will give access to the farmers a business model that will have mentoring, and access to money and markets," he said. "This is being done now; we need only to scale it up."
He also emphasized the roles played by local government units, including pinpointing which among them are ready for the program.
Former agriculture secretary William Dar will join the KAL as an adviser. Also being tapped for KAL are Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and Piddig, Ilocos Norte Mayor Eddie Guillen.
"Mayor Guillen has done it in his town with Universal Leaf Phils. Working together with its president, Winston Uy, they turned around the tobacco industry in that area and made it a leading exporter of tobacco," he said.
Concepcion said the KAL program can pave the way for a Food Security Council, whose mission it will be to ensure food security for the country.
"For now we will do our best to make this work," he said. "The confidence is high because large agri-entrepreneurs and local government will be behind this program, with the President's blessing," he added.
