Born in Manila with roots that came from Quezon and Bicol provinces, the farmer admitted that he does not come from a wealthy family. His dad was a janitor but finished college and later became a trusted employee of the Gotianuns of Filinvest while his mom was a secretary of the boss of that company.
His grandpa owned a farm land which eventually got divided among 7 siblings. And this is where James Penaflorida Amparo and his father learned agriculture.
Though James graduated in Film Development at the University of the Philippines, the farmer is now the owner of Jovel East AgriVentures which he founded and began in 2014 as a research and development firm, that tried different farming technologies to improve the farmers' access to technology, increase their yields and productivity and, along the way, their incomes. But he registered the family corporation in 2010 and spent three years specifically as R & D.
He said his early exposure to farming and farmers– why and how they remain poor– has made him develop a business model, which despite the huge risks, is meant to help uplift farmers and in the process, his business as well.
He developed products, technology, and farm machinery to ease the load of farmers, for example, a ladder that coconut climbing ladders that workers can use to harvest the ripe nuts from tall trees, Fuzon generators, and soil nutrients that are patented to his company.
His main office is in Quezon City, in Tarlac he planted rice and corn, and at Sariaya in Quezon province, he planted rice, corn, vegetables, and other high-value crops and Davao.
He was able to cluster around 5,000 farmers– some tilling 1, 2, 3, and 4 hectares. In Tarlac for instance, he clustered mostly rice and corn farmers, in Quezon clustering was very flexible because of rice, corn, high-value crops, and livestock, and in Davao around 50 hectares of mostly fruits like lakatan bananas which the company passes on to viajeros and retailers every week.
"We are now among the biggest producers and exporters of durian to China this year. We are now managing almost 3,000 trees of durian in Davao," he said. All his 3,000 trees are fruit bearing with ages 10 years and up with each tree bearing 200 to 300 durian fruit of at least 3 kilos each. The fresh durian reaches China in five to seven days. There is no such thing as a peak or lean season for durian in China. None of his durian harvest in October or November is sold in the Philippines.
Amparo's yields compete with the biggest suppliers of durian in China which are Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand, which harvest durian in June and July.
He is actively involved in the "big brother-small brother" of KALAP (or the Kapatid Angat Lahat for Agriculture Program of Presidential Assistant Joey Concepcion for entrepreneurship). His company provides seeds and fertilizers to 5,000 farmers as well as subsistence loans but does not oblige them to sell their produce exclusively to his company.
"We in fact encourage them to sell where the price is high and just pay us for the loans they got from us," he shared.
In Tarlac, a dry area, he asked the farmers not to plant rice because of the El Nino even if their farms are being reached by the irrigation systems (through pumps) of the government. He advised them to plant yellow corn for animal feed (which does not require much water) instead.
"We have institutional buyers for rice and corn. But if they still want to plant rice, I can't do anything about it," Amparo said
The vegetables that his farmer-cooperators plant all go to the Bureau of Corrections since "we have a long-term contract with them for the food needs of detainees." Some, however, go to bagsakan centers like Balintawak.
"The problem with Philippine agriculture is that we are dealing with individual farmers. We can not distinguish who are the buyers, the growers the exporters, processors. For example in durian, the big Chinese buyers do not know who to talk to in the Philippines they require," Amparo explained.
"But God has always repaid me in blessings and the problem-solving talent in ways I could never imagine," he shared.
While in college he had done a lot of documentaries about farmers' plight and he looked at possible solutions to their problems.
"Luckily I have lots of friends at the Department of Agriculture, local and national government offices, entrepreneurs, and I am fortunate to be able to network with other agriculture experts from other countries," he said.
His fertilizer company produces 60 to 70 percent organic and the rest is chemical fertilizer, and all of its output is registered and licensed by the Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority.
"The most critical problem in agriculture is not the lack of technology but the management of the farmers and farms," Amparo further explained.