Charoen Pokphand, LBP agree to help agri sector

Charoen Pokphand Foods Philippines Corp. (CPFP) has partnered with state-run Land Bank of the Philippines for a credit program, bolstering the government’s efforts to revitalize the embattled swine industry.

In a statement, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said the partnership between CPFP and LandBank aims to provide credit, marketing and technical assistance to clustered farmers’ and fisherfolk’s cooperatives and associations, as well as micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) engaged in the food value chain.

Under the accord, LandBank will provide credit assistance to contract growers or beneficiaries of CPFP, the local arm of Thailand-based agro-industrial and food conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Co., Ltd.

The loan may be used to build and operate biosecured facilities for swine, poultry and aquaculture production and processing facilities, or establish CP Fresh Shop (meat shops) and Five Star stations for roasted and fried chicken.

Partnerships

“We would like to witness more partnerships—similar to that of CPFP and LandBank —among agribusiness firms, government and commercial lending institutions, FCAs, and MSMEs, including [local governments] and foreign investors to help massively increase food production, at the same time provide farmers, fishers ruralfolk and their families more incomes, and ensure food security for all our countrymen,” said Agriculture Secretary William Dar.

Cecilia Borromeo, president of LandBank, said this tie-up would be an avenue to reach more farmers in the countryside who need bio-secured facilities and equipment to protect the farm animals from African swine fever (ASF) and other diseases.

“We welcome this partnership to advance the competitiveness of swine, poultry, and aqua industry players nationwide, and meet the growing domestic demands,” Borromeo said.

“Toward this goal, the LandBank is ready to extend accessible credit and technical assistance to your network of clustered farmers’ and fishers’ groups, cooperatives and even micro, small, and medium enterprises, and other agri-enterprises,” she added.

ASF contagion

Dar said the Philippine agriculture sector would have grown by at least three percent annually if not for the ASF contagion, which pulled down the hog and livestock subsector’s performance in the last two years.

Estimates from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed the country’s hog population declined by 25 percent to 9 million in 2020 from 12 million the previous year. The ASF outbreak was first reported in 2019.

In 2021, the national hog inventory inched up to 9.7 million, with the agency attributing it to “twin efforts to manage and contain ASF and the hog repopulation program started to bear fruit.”

Dar said CPFP helped produce an additional 350,000 fatteners in 2021 from its network of contract growers and 600,000 more this year.

In support of the DA’s hog repopulation initiative, the company has committed to engage more clustered backyard and commercial hog raisers, and FCAs into a contract growing scheme, at an initial 300-hog module program.

“I want to express my sincerest gratitude and thanks to Secretary Dar and the DA family for trusting us to spearhead this project toward the recovery of the Philippine swine industry,” said Sakol Cheewakoset, vice chair of CPFP.

With the company’s expertise and technological know-how, he said they could share their knowledge to help boost production and the income for Filipino farmers, fisherfolk and agri-entrepreneurs.

CPFP manages several state-of-the art and bio-secured swine breeding and production facilities in Isabela and other areas in the country, including poultry and aquaculture production and processing facilities.

This year, the DA has allotted P4 billion to support the twin hog repopulation and “Bantay ASF sa Barangay” programs.

By 2023, it is targeting to produce 440,563 breeders and 10.5 million finishers under its hog repopulation program. INQ