SM, Rustans lauded for plan to buy local produce

Sen. Francis Pangilinan has welcomed reports that large supermarkets have committed to buy produce directly from farmers, saying this complemented government efforts to make farming more profitable.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the SM and Rustan’s groups—which own the SM Supermarket, Savemore and Shopwise chains— expressed their intention through the GoNegosyo program of presidential adviser Joey Concepcion.

“The commitment of the supermarkets to buy (onion and garlic directly) from farmers is timely,” Pangilinan said. “We would like this to be the norm because our farmers’ income would increase and their lives would be lifted.”

Pangilinan, who chairs the Senate committee on Agriculture and Food, said this development heightened the need to ensure that farmers have the capacity to meet demand from supermarkets.

“The role of the private sector in improving agriculture in the country is important,” he said. “The increase in the demand would be followed by an increase in our farmers’ need for storage and transport facilities. The support for them should be able to catch up.”

He said the supermarkets’ initiative followed the pattern of his Sagip Saka bill, which sought to provide tax incentives to private firms that buy agricultural produce directly from accredited farmers and fishers’ enterprises.

Earlier, Pangilinan said farmers could supply the requirements of local and multinational food giants and increase their incomes in the process.

But he also said that besides the lack of capacity, Filipino farmers did not have the confidence that they could meet the standards of food conglomerates.

“From the norm of subsistence farming, we must move toward farming enterprise,” he said.