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By Katrina Mennen A. Valdez, Reporter
SAN Miguel Corp. (SMC) has entered into a joint
venture with the Kouk Group of Companies for a $1-billion investment
in various agricultural developments aimed at addressing the
Philippines’ food-security problem.
During the signing ceremony for a Food Security
Program, Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., the chairman of Southeast Asia’s
largest food and beverage concern, said SMC and the Kouk Group have
signed a memorandum of understanding to boost domestic supply of
grains, sugar, and other basic staples.
“With the Kouk Group, [we] intend to set aside
$1, 000 per hectare, and that [we] intend to develop at least one
million hectares all over the country,” Cojuangco said.
SMC and the Kouk Group will also provide
financial, technical expertise for the development and cultivation
of government land, and guarantee to buy all food products under the
terms and conditions of the definitive agreements executed by all
parties.
“This project will also generate job
opportunities, seedlings and post harvest facilities,” Cojuangco
said.
The Kuok Group runs the Shangri-La Hotels &
Resorts chain.
Cojuangco said the project will commence once
the government has identified the locations that will be used for
the project.
“But certainly, [we] will use idle lands,”
he said.
Trade Secretary Peter Favila, who is also Board
of Investments chairman, said the government is more than eager to
grant tax incentives and other perks for this project.
Ramon Ang, SMC president, said that food prices
have reached record levels, such that companies like SMC and the
Kouk Group felt the urgency to put up the “Feeding our Future”
project.
Rising prices of food imports, along with
costlier crude, has accelerated domestic inflation to a nine-year
high of 9.6 percent in May. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has
conceded that its inflation target of three to five percent would be
breached this year.
A net importer of rice, the Philippines’
tenders has caused the price of the staple to shoot up to record
levels in recent months.
To cushion the adverse effects of rising prices
of rice and oil, the government has expanded its subsidy program and
cut taxes on fuel imports. This in turn has forced it to abandon its
plan to balance its budget this year.
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