Oow Chemical’s Marloes Wigman answers queries from the media. With her is Justine Lynn Limocon of Lamac Multi-Purpose Cooperative.
(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
With the advent of new technologies that ushered in new techniques in farming, local farmers in southwest Cebu got a much-needed boost as an international corporation has partnered with their cooperative to provide solutions to their livelihood problems.
Lamac Multipurpose Cooperative, a 3,500-member strong cooperative in Lamac, Pinamungahan town, southwest Cebu, and five other government and non-government organizations have partnered with Dow Chemical Company Foundation under its Leadership in Action (LIA) Program, which aims to provide innovative solutions that tackle global challenges and create positive change around the world.
Justine Lynn Limocon, Business Development Center Department head of Lamac Multi-Purpose Cooperative, said that in the past, their intervention was focused mainly on financing but with their partnership with the LIA program, they realized that the farmers need holistic approach to financing, technical support and market linkage for their farm products.
“This country is an agricultural country but sad to say, farmers belong to the poorest sector,” she said in a press conference held last Friday at the Radisson Blu Hotel.
“So we are helping them become businessmen. That’s the only way to uplift the farmers’ lives. The Dow team helped us with the technical aspect to produce more harvest. They also helped us manage the finances of our farmers because one of their teams is into finance,” Limocon added.
Under the LIA program, Limocon said the farmers will be provided with skills awareness and updates on new farming technologies, processing techniques and financial literacy.
Among the Lamac farmers’ common farming problems that were assessed under the LIA program involved post-harvest management, irrigation, planting techniques and management of the farmers’ finances.
During the press conference, Limocon said sustainable solutions were proposed to address the problems, such as improved packaging for farm products to prolong their shelf life, proper planting distance, adequate irrigation and building of rain shelters to protect the crops against the impact of heavy rainfall.
Limocon also pointed out that Dow’s LIA program has enabled them to link with local distributors as well as with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to help in the financial literacy of the farmers.
Despite the LIA program culminating in two months or in November, Limocon was grateful that Dow assured them that they are always open for consultation and willing to assist even after the program’s culmination.
Now on its fourth year, Dow’s LIA Program has developed solutions to the different needs of the host country while enabling new leadership opportunities, giving participants a chance to learn more about the realities of international business, and identify new business opportunities.
The program has partnered with local communities in Ghana in 2013, in Ethiopia in 2014, and in Indonesia in 2015.
For this year, 40 Dow employees have formed six teams to work on six projects in partnership with governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Cebu.
One team of the LIA program partnered with All R Up of the Pagtambayayong Foundation to establish proper banding, marketing, and packaging solutions for pork and milk products.
Another team partnered with Cebu Technological University to develop global linkages and networks with foreign universities and organizations and to improve the employability of graduates of the agricultural programs as well as develop partnerships with various industries for collaborative research and product development.
The third team partnered with the Department of Science and Technology in Central Visayas to boost production and promote commercialization of dried food products to local and foreign consumers, while the fourth team partnered with Lamac Multipurpose Cooperative to educate farmers on techniques to increase the production of high-quality crops, reduce post-harvest loss, and support their financial literacy.
The fifth team partnered with the Philippine Business for Social Progress to give access to safe yet affordable water to 50 households of Sitio Kabatbatan on the Buhisan Watershed area and to boost their ornamental plant production.
The sixth team partnered with the University of San Carlos School of Engineering to develop recommendations for funding sources and methodologies to assess the water quality and quantity of Tinago Creek.
The whole LIA program was rolled out in the country on April this year, with the Dow employees communicating virtually with their partner organizations to begin work on their projects before flying to Cebu on September 3 for a week-long interaction.
According to the company’s country director, Roberto Batungbacal, they chose Cebu as this year’s host because it represents the many facets of the economy.
“In Cebu, we talked about manufacturing, we talked about agriculture, we talked about services and the BPOs, we talked about transportation and shipping industry, we have all these opportunities here as well as the challenges,” he said.