Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said he is not against corporate farming but explained that the government wants to ensure that farmers will be able to benefit from agriculture land development and land lease deals forged with foreign governments and big companies.
“We have nothing against corporate farming. What we’re looking for is that there should be a guaranteed price for crops such as rice and corn. We would also suggest [to San Miguel] to just enter into contract-growing arrangements with farmers in the so-called convergence areas,” said Alcala during the Communications and News Exchange Forum held in Quezon City yesterday.
He said he will meet with SMC officials to put forward the government’s proposal and seek inputs from the company on how the stalled project can be jumpstarted.
In 2008, SMC and Kuok Properties signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Philippine government for the “Feeding the Future” project. SMC and Kuok committed to invest up to $1 billion to develop up to 1 million hectares for agricultural production in “support of the government’s food security agenda.”
Under this MOU, SMC and the Kuok Group, which were identified as “cooperators” of the project, will provide the “financing, technical support and management for agricultural crop production” determined to be suitable for areas covered by the project, which will include, but will not be limited to, “irrigation, access roads and post-harvest investments.”
SMC and the Kuok Group will also purchase the farm produce in the covered areas at “guaranteed production off-take” terms through separate Procurement Agreements with the various agricultural producers that will be involved in the project.
The DA, for its part, will provide technical assistance to the project such as determining the suitable crops for planting in the identified areas and providing the appropriate agricultural extension services to farmer-beneficiaries.
The “Feeding our Future” venture covered grains and vegetables as well as meat and dairy products.
The National Convergence Initiative consisting of the DA, the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources was put in charge of finding farmlands and opening new ones which SMC and Kuok can tap for agribusiness development. Initially, the government identified about 100,000 hectares as “Priority 1” areas in Luzon and Mindanao, and another 480,000 hectares of “Priority 2” areas for recommendation to SMC and Kuok.
