SMC, Kuok Group to pinpoint land for $1-B joint agri venture

A team of government officials and executives from San Miguel Corp.  (SMC) and the Kuok Group have started the process of pinpointing the one million hectares of land to be utilized for the $1-billion joint agricultural production venture dubbed “Feeding our Future.”

SMC and the Kuok Group are participating in the Department of Agriculture’s program encouraging corporate farming, where private and state-run companies are urged to provide for the food needs of their employees.

Marriz Agbon, president of the Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp. (PADCC), said that initially, the government has identified about 100,000 hectares as “Priority 1” areas in Luzon and Mindanao, and another 480,000 hectares of “Priority 2” areas for recommendation.

Agbon said the initial areas for the proposed farm investments by SMC and the Kuok Group include the Mountain Province , Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay and Saranggani.

The government will use the country’s existing community-based forestry management (CBFM) areas and the untenured areas identified by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for the Feeding our Future project.

Agbon is the concurrent head of the National Convergence Initiative Secretariat of the DA, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the DENR that is in-charge of finding the farmlands and opening new ones throughout the country that SMC and Kuok can tap for agribusiness development.

SMC and the Kuok Group have pledged to develop up to one million hectares of government-identified farms at an investment ratio of $1,000 per hectare.

About one million hectares classified as Priority 2 areas for development have been identified in the provinces of Isabela, Mindoro Oriental, Mindoro Occidental, Negros Oriental, Bukidnon, Davao Oriental, Sultan Kudarat and Surigao del Sur, among others, Agbon said.

Another 220,000 hectares are classified as Priority 3 areas and can be found in Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, South Cotabato, North Cotabato and Agusan del Norte.

“From these areas, SMC and the Kuok Group will conduct an evaluation and review of the suitability of such tracts of land for agricultural-related endeavors,” Agbon said.  

Food production under the Feeding our Future venture will cover grains and vegetables as well as meat and dairy products.