The SMC & ‘Alagang BMeg’ model

President and Agriculture Secretary Bongbong Marcos must have been so curious to see what a real world-class, climate-controlled mega poultry facility looks like that he agreed to fly out all the way to Hagonoy town in Davao del Sur to do the ribbon cutting and inauguration of the first of eleven San Miguel Corporation mega poultry farms. The project cost P3.34 billion and is designed to produce 80 million birds annually.

PBBM was quoted as saying that “local and foreign investors should realize that agricultural modernization is the way to ensure food security and the technologies abroad can be adopted in the Philippines.” While pointing out that the country can no longer depend on informal food production techniques due to intense demand for food sources, the President reassured his audience by saying, “Of course, we do not prevent the backyard growing and yung pagaalaga ng baboy, ng manok sa bawat bahay.”

That last statement is certainly very reassuring to all players big and small who believe and rely on agriculture for business or day-to-day livelihood. Industrialization and corporate farming as exemplified by San Miguel Corporation is the kind of catalyst and business model that Philippine agriculture seriously needs for government and foreign investors to refocus on the natural resources and huge potential in local agriculture. But at the same time, let’s not forget that pre-pandemic, 65 percent of hog requirements was supplied by backyard raisers.

Simply put, if done right and given presidential priority, Philippine agriculture can follow the path of tourism, which generated so much revenues as well as investment when the PNoy and Duterte administrations recognized and supported the industry.

In fact, many experts and economists have said that if Philippine agriculture became a full-time priority project of PBBM, it would create more jobs than any industry, will revive and enlarge related businesses and industries and would generate more revenues as well as save capital being mis-spent on imported agricultural products.

The best argument is: if San Miguel Corporation has invested multi-billion pesos for 11 mega poultry farms all over the country, then the money or profit must be there and that is where the national government should be as well.

To be fair to PBBM, he has had so much on his plate that it takes a while to address issues or priorities, but he has shown signs. Aside from inaugurating the SMC world-class facility, PBBM issued an order putting a stop to the practice of towns, cities, provinces charging “pass through fees” via sale of windshield stickers. While seemingly minuscule, any vegetable/chicken/hog or fish trader will tell you that the total paid out to all the checkpoints amount to millions of pesos annually, enough to get the attention of the President.

All that adds to food inflation that hurts all Filipinos and drives down the popularity rating of the President. While the President is on a slow roll, he should talk to many small and medium farm owners and backyard producers about fees and charges levied by barangays, city and municipal checkpoints related to delivery of materials such as day-old chicks, piglets, etc. I have written about these as shared by farmers and companies who lose so much money because of the intentional delays and threat to livestock caused by LGUs, just to extort a few thousand pesos all over the country.

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The “Alagang BMeg” model I refer to is an ongoing program of BMeg feeds under San Miguel Corporation where different teams of BMeg specialists, veterinarians, technicians and product endorsers travel around the country or go online to share different types of knowledge and information related to animal care, production and business-related concerns for end-users as well as product familiarization.

All that is designed to equip and capacitate backyard folks and small agri-business entrepreneurs. I have been a “volunteer speaker” in such activities because of my media background and personal experience in hog raising, backyard poultry and game fowl breeding, as well as user of BMeg feeds and dog food. But unlike vets who teach medicine, I share all the “ay mali!” mistakes I have committed as a backyard raiser so that participants or viewers won’t repeat those costly mistakes.

All these activities are interconnected and are necessary in promoting businesses such as hog raising, poultry production, fishpond operations for bangus and tilapia, game fowl farm operations, even in the booming businesses such as breeding and raising racing pigeons, dog breeding and others. The philosophy is end-to-end assistance and information for product users and business owners. Due to the economic downturn and COVID pandemic, these events have been reduced, resulting in little to no information being made available to ordinary Filipinos.

Back in the old days, people who raised animals or owned farms generally relied on a veterinarian or an agricultural extension worker or simply relied on information cultivated in the backyard. Before the devolution of services and budgets to local governments, even people in far flung barrios would be visited by an agricultural extension worker, usually an animal husbandry graduate from a state university or college in the region.

Nowadays, you are lucky if the municipal or city veterinarian pays you a visit, given many of them must use their own car, have very little medicines on stock or have no access to laboratories as well as funding for tests. In some cases, you’re lucky if there is a visiting board-certified vet in the small towns of provinces.

Having seen the industrial scale of poultry production and being sympathetic to backyard farmers, perhaps President Bongbong Marcos could consider organizing cooperation and technical training and technology transfer with the private sector giants in agri-business to fill what the DA lost due to devolution to local government and place the agricultural agenda on the table in Malacañang. Bayanihan ng mga bayani!