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By Ira Karen Apanay, Reporter
The government has identified four municipalities of Davao del Norte
as initial beneficiaries of a billion-dollar food security project
of food and beverage giant San Miguel Corporation and the Kuok Group
of Companies, an official said.
Marriz Agbon, Philippine Agricultural
Development and Commercial Corporation (PADCC) president, said
the18,494-hectare over-logged areas in Davao del Norte were
identified for upland agro-forestry development, which is part of
the initial phase of the project Feeding the Future.
The project aims to develop one million hectares
of government-owned land to promote agricultural productivity and
develop a sustainable food supply for the country.
Agbon, who also heads the program‘s
Convergence Initiative Technical secretariat, said the initiative
would cover the municipalities of Kapalong with 3,246 hectares, San
Isidro with 5,860 hectares, Talaingod with 7,860 hectares and New
Corella with 1,552 hectares.
These areas experience high rainfall throughout
the year, with clay loam to sandy loam soil, thus, making these
areas ideal for plantation development.
The official said that San Miguel and Kuok would
inject P832.23 million ($18.494 million) for the said project, as
announced during the signing of memorandum of understanding with
four government agencies in July 2008. The two firms pledged $1
billion to the Philippine government to help secure the country’s
food requirements.
Kuok is one of Southeast Asia’s largest food,
sugar and vegetable oil company and also owns a chain of five-star
hotels in the Philippines and abroad. San Miguel, on the other hand,
is the region’s biggest food and beverage conglomerate but has
since diversified into telecommunications, power while it also plans
to enter the mining sector.
Agbon said the government has initially
identified about 100,000 hectares as Priority 1 areas located in
Mountain Province, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, and
Saranggani.
Another 480,000 hectares of the one million
hectare Priority 2 areas were recommended to San Miguel and Kuok The
Priority 2 areas for development were in the provinces of Isabela,
Mindoro Oriental, Mindoro Occidental, Negros Oriental, Bukidnon,
Davao Oriental, Sultan Kudarat and Surigao del Sur.
About 220,000 hectares were classified as
Priority 3 areas that can be found in Davao del Sur, Davao del
Norte, South Cotabato, North Cotabato and Agusan del Norte.
Agbon said food production under the Feeding our
Future venture would cover grains such as rice and corn, and
vegetables as well as meat and dairy products.
The government would use the country’s
existing community-based forestry management (CBFM) areas and the
untenured areas identified by the Department of Agrarian Reform
(DAR).
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