Dar joins Go Negosyo’s Kapatid Angat Lahat program

Former Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar has joined Go Negosyo as head of its Kapatid Angat Lahat's agriculture program.

Dar served as Agriculture Secretary under former President Rodrigo Duterte and was the first director of the Philippine Bureau of Agricultural Research.

He was also executive director of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development.

"The experience and expertise of former Sec. Dar and Interior and Local Government Sec. Benjamin Abalos Jr. will be of great help in finding solutions to how we can uplift our micro-farmers," Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion said.

The Go Negosyo founder recently presided over a meeting that brought together former Sec. Dar, National Irrigation Administration chief and former Piddig Mayor Eddie Guillen, Universal Leaf Phils. president Winston Uy, and Lionheart Farms CEO and Co-Founder Christian Eyde Moeller.

Agri-microentrepreneurship

Another meeting is set in January to tackle the role of local government units in encouraging agri-microentrepreneurship among farmers.

"I would like to believe that there are existing models to improve upon," Dar remarked, referring to the success of models adopted by ULP and Lionheart.

"Now, with the coming in of Go Negosyo through the Kapatid Angat Lahat program for agro-microentrepreneurship, we need to elevate these models by way of looking at them through a number of lenses," Dar said.

Among these lenses are productivity, value chain analysis, sustainability, resiliency and inclusivity, he said.

"The private sector cannot do it alone," Concepcion said.

"It needs to work with the local government units and their leadership. Together we must provide an enabling environment that can help our country's micro-farmers grow and become entrepreneurs," the Go Negosyo founder said.

Among the first approaches to be adopted would be to focus on four key crops, namely rice, coconut, corn and tobacco.

Crucial to jobs generation

Uplifting the country's agriculture sector is seen as especially crucial to jobs generation, a key priority of the Marcos administration and the jobs sector led by Concepcion as a member of the Private Sector Advisory Council.

"More than 62 percent of jobs generated in the Philippines come from micro small and medium enterprises, and a big part of these MSMEs come from the agriculture sector," Concepcion said.

He explained that the most challenged among these MSMEs are in the agriculture sector, most especially those operating at the smallest scale, or the micro-farmers.

"We will aim to scale up our micro-farmers so they can become entrepreneurs, help them grow from micro to small, small to medium, and in the process, create more jobs for Filipinos, especially in the countryside," he said.

Aside from agriculture, Kapatid Angat Lahat will have programs covering other sectors including retail where many micro-entrepreneurs are actively involved.