Junrey Ubod is about to harvest the lettuce and spring onions that are planted on his farm. | Contributed photo
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — Catalino Panaginip Jr., 45, had been farming for at least 14 years.
Panaginip, who is from Sitio Satuhan in the mountain barangay of Sudlon II in Cebu City, said that farming had been difficult for him until he learned how to become an agro-entrepreneur.
Under the Farmer Entrepreneurship Program initiated by the Lamac Multi-purpose Cooperative (Lamac MPC) and Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF), he and other beneficiaries were clustered and taught the use of technology to boost their harvest.
“We were taught the proper way of fertilizer application so that our harvests are safe for the consumers and to manage cost and income,” he said in the dialect.
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In addition, they were also given access to resources that they could use, as well as corporate buyers, where they could directly sell their harvest without having to go through middlemen to ensure an increased and steady income.
With the decent income that he now gets from being an agro-entrepreneur, Panaginip said that he started to invest on a small house and a motorcycle, in addition to sending his children to school.
The farm of Catalino Panaginip Jr. in Brgy. Sudlon II in Cebu City. | Contributed photo
Agro-entrepreneurs
Like Panaginip, Junrey Ubod, 39, is also starting to enjoy the benefits of being an agro-entrepreneur. Working as a part of the cluster in Sitio Satuhan in Brgy. Sudlon I, Ubod said that he planted lettuce which he intercropped with spring onions.
He said that he was able to harvest P40,000 worth of lettuce every 45 days which was at least 25 percent higher than what he used to earn.
Ubod said that he was able to earn more now since he would no longer spends on insecticides.
The spring onions that he plants already function as the insect repellent for his lettuce. In return, they also absorb nutrients from the lettuce.
Ubod, a farmer for 17 years, said he was able to plant on his farm at least five times a year.
Moreover, he already has corporate buyers waiting for his harvest. Ubod said he would sell his lettuce to Jollibee Group at a price higher than what he would normally get from other buyers.
Because of the income that he now earns, one of his five children, has already expressed his interest to also become a farmer like him.
Empowered
“Farming is a noble profession. I am so happy that they are now empowered,” said Ma. Elena Limocon, the general manager of Lamac MPC.
Limocon said that their 1,105 farmers-members are important to their cooperative. It is also for this reason that they established a farm school in Brgy. Lamac in Pinamungajan town where their main office is located, with the help of JGF that had been working in partnership with them since 2013.
Their TESDA-certified instructors train farmers to be agro-entrepreneurs. Lamac MPC’s farm school has already graduated 180 agro-entrepreneurs since 2022.
“Agro-enterprise is the way to go,” said LA Cruzat, partnership and operations director of JGF.
To date, there are 584 farmers in Cebu who deliver their produce to the Jollibee Group.
Japo Vicente, senior program officer of JGF, said that 23 percent of the requirements of the fast-food chain include onions, bell peppers, and gingers that are being supplied by the farmers. They also buy lettuce, cabbage, spinach, tomatoes, spring onion, among others.