Former DA chief joins ‘Kapatid Angat Lahat’ program

Former Agriculture Secretary William Dar is joining Go Negosyo’s “Kapatid Angat Lahat” as head of its agriculture program.

Dar, who was the secretary of agriculture under former President Rodrigo Duterte, also served as the first director of the Philippine Bureau of Agricultural Research, and as an executive director of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development.

“More than 62 percent of the jobs generated in the Philippines come from MSMEs, and a big part of these MSMEs come from the agriculture sector,” said Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion.

“We will aim to scale up our micro-farmers so they can become entrepreneurs, help them grow from micro to small, small to medium, and in the process, create more jobs for Filipinos, especially in the countryside,” he added.

This is where Dar’s expertise comes in, said Concepcion.

“The experience and expertise of former Sec. Dar and Sec. Abalos will be of great help in finding solutions to how we can uplift our micro-farmers,” he said.

The Go Negosyo founder recently presided over a meeting that brought together Dar, National Irrigation Administration chief and former Piddig Mayor Eddie Guillen, Universal Leaf Phils. (ULP) president Winston Uy, and Lionheart Farms CEO and co-ounder Christian Eyde Moeller. Another meeting is set for January to tackle the role of local government units in encouraging agri-microentrepreneurship.

“I would like to believe that there are existing models to improve upon,” Dar said, with reference to the success of models adopted by ULP and Lionheart.

“Now, with the coming in of Go Negosyo through the Kapatid Angat Lahat program for agro-microentrepreneurship, we need to elevate these models by way of looking at them through a number of lenses.”

Among these lenses are productivity, value chain analysis, sustainability, resiliency and inclusivity.

Kapatid Angat Lahat aims to encourage medium and large corporations to help micro and small enterprises by including them in their value chain.

“When we first introduced Kapatid Angat Lahat in 2016, we saw that for MSMEs to grow and evolve from micro to small, small to medium, and medium to large, they need the three M’s of money, market and mentoring, which can come with the help of big-brother corporations,” said Concepcion.

Last Aug 26 at the 2022 MSME Summit, 37 organizations committed to its ideals and signed a pledge which was later presented to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Along with Dar, Kapatid Angat Lahat will also be guided by inputs from Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos.

“The private sector cannot do it alone,” said Concepcion. “It needs to work with the LGUs and their  leadership. Together we must provide an enabling environment that can help our country’s micro-farmers grow and become entrepreneurs.”

Among the first approaches would be to focus on four key crops, namely rice, coconut, corn and tobacco.