Pilmico President & CEO Sabin Aboitiz (second from left) leads the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in promoting sustainable livelihood in the country. Also present were (from left) DAR Undersecretary Atty. Emily Padilla, DAR Secretary John Castriciones, Aboitiz Foundation COO Maribeth Marasigan and Pilmico COO Tristan Aboitiz. | contributed photo
More farmers will soon benefit from a renewed public-private partnership project between Aboitiz Group food subsidiary Pilmico and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) that aims to promote sustainable agri-livelihood in the country.
Following the success of its first year of implementation, the project is expected to continue assisting farmers in increasing their household income through the provision of livelihood packages such as piglets, egg-laying machines, and bakery starter kits. The beneficiaries sustain their livelihood through an easy-to-manage business with a quick return on investment.
The partnership was formalized through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding last April 2, 2019, attended by Agrarian Reform Secretary John R. Castriciones, Pilmico President & CEO Sabin Aboitiz, Pilmico COO Tristan Aboitiz and Aboitiz Foundation FVP & COO Maribeth Marasigan.
The agreement will leverage on shared strengths to provide Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARB) an easy-to-manage, sustainable livelihood program while adding new features to the partnership including 1) creation of a technical working group for proper monitoring, and 2) supplemental interventions to further empower backyard farmers.
In his keynote message, Pilmico President and, CEO Sabin Aboitiz highlighted the positive results of the partnership, noting that the majority of the recipients had a 20-percent increase in their household income.
“This is a strong indication that our partnership is working and, I believe that the way forward is to continue providing our backyard farmers the chance to learn, earn and improve their lives which eventually drive progress in their respective communities,” Aboitiz said.
In 2017, Pilmico has already provided 51 livelihood packages to ARBs and cooperatives in the following provinces: Camarines Sur, Capiz, Compostela Valley, Pampanga, South Cotabato, and Surigao del Norte.
“We welcome these kinds of projects. We are very thankful to Aboitiz because of your involvement in this noble process of equipping our farmers with the resources; this is something that will contribute to the development and peace of our country,” said DAR Secretary Catriciones. /bmjo