Businessmen involved in agriculture held a meeting on Wednesday, May 17, to come up with solutions to helping small farmers scale up their production under Go Negosyo’s Kapatid Angat Lahat Agri Program (KALAP).

The program is a public-private sector initiative that aims to bridge small farmers and large agribusiness companies, wherein small farmers would be incorporated into the value chain of large agribusiness companies or big-brother companies.

A statement from Go Negosyo said the meeting tackled the possible ways to raise productivity and achieve economies of scale for small farmers.

The meeting was attended by Go Negosyo founder and RFM Corporation CEO Joey Concepcion, Go Negosyo Senior Adviser Dr. William Dar, and Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri.

The private sector was represented by Francisco Dizon of Dizon Farms, Ramon Garcia of DFNN, Winston Uy of Universal Leaf Phils., Nando Cojuangco of Central Azucarera de Tarlac, James Amparo of Yovel East, Simon Bakker of Kennemer, Carl Benedick Chung of Bounty Fresh, Michael Tan of LT Group, Christian Moelller of Lionheart Farms, and Ruth Novales of Nestlè.

In April, the group met with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to update him about the program.

The group discussed with him the need for interventions in ensuring that farmers get access to credit, an issue that cropped up after earlier consultations with banks and financial institutions on agriculture lending.

Marcos said he would look into these concerns.

Go Negosyo is a non-profit organization that advocates for entrepreneurship development in the Philippines.

It was developed in 2005 by Concepcion, and provides mentorship, training, networking, and other resources to aspiring and active entrepreneurs, with a focus on the development of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Reference: Manila Bulletin