San Miguel Corporation (SMC) went above and beyond their normal efforts to ensure that Filipino farmers will secure their income during the height of the pandemic by making their goods accessible to the public.
They have also assured additional income opportunities for the farmers to counter issues in the supply chain.
“Our efforts are not limited to just helping farmers sell their excess produce to prevent these from going to waste. These also include providing market facilities so they can save on transportation costs and also maintain the freshness and quality of products sold to consumers and also supporting community-based agriculture initiatives,” SMC president and CEO Ramon S. Ang said as he reiterated the company’s commitment to supporting the country’s agriculture sector.
It can be recalled that SMC subsidiary San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI) ramped up local corn purchases from farmer cooperatives nationwide with quarantine protocols and disruptions in transportation limiting their ability to sell their produce. This guaranteed the off-take for corn farmers and at same time secured SMFI’s raw materials for food production.
SMC also partnered with the Department of Agriculture’s expanded “Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita” rolling stores at Petron stations to help farmers in delivering their products to consumers.
The diversified conglomerate also tapped farmer cooperatives to provide agricultural inputs like corn and cassava for various food products.
SMC’s projects also resulted in offshoot programs such as rabbitry and hog raising as the case of the RSA Farmers Association in Davao del Sur which used earnings from SMC’s community reselling program as seed capital.
Farmers also benefited from Entrepreneurship and Financial Management training provided by SMC through the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority.