The Cebu Business Months (CBM) in its 27th year opened its Entrepreneurship Summit with talks on Food Sustainability and Security at 38th Park Avenue Showroom, Cebu I.T. Park.
Through the insightful discussions and the exchange of experiences, we are equipping businesses with tools needed to navigate challenges and seize growth opportunities.
Kenneth Co
Cebu President Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Positioned as a dynamic and comprehensive platform for entrepreneurs, industry leaders and experts; the summit aims to address critical issues, collect valuable insights, and form collaborative efforts that would help improve the Philippines’ business landscape.
“Through the insightful discussions and the exchange of experiences, we are equipping businesses with tools needed to navigate challenges and seize growth opportunities,” said Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Kenneth Co.
“Food security and sustainability goes beyond food production itself. We have to think about the logistics, the transport, the temperature control, the banking and financing requirements, and so much more. The CBM Entrepreneurship Summit is designed to be both a platform and a first step towards the search for these solutions with a long term goal in mind.” CBM 2023 Entrepreneurship Chairperson Gretchen Choa said.
Ricardo Alba, the summit’s keynote speaker and president of Univet Nutrition and Animal Healthcare Company (UNAHCO) Inc., reiterated that the market in agriculture is waiting and there is a huge potential of agriculture in the Cebu Province.
With data from the Department of Agriculture (DA), Alba explained that Cebu has the biggest share in value of livestock, poultry and fisheries in Central Visayas. There is also a total of 227,275.36 agricultural land area, and the most produced commodities are sugarcane, coconut husk, banana, and sweet potato.
Food processing has also been the main contributor of Cebu’s agriculture. Raw products have been processed into value-added products.
Apart from the keynote speech, CBM conducted a roundtable discussion on the business of farm and food. The topics centered around individual efforts in promoting local produce, food security and safety.
The roundtable participants were Bobby Adan, Owner of Prutsan Ni Adan, Alvin Hing, Chairman and CEO of Excelsior Farms Inc., Jonathan Unchuan of Barili Milk Station, Chris Fardriga, Chairman of Chris Fardriga Nursery and Plantation and Gumero Cogal, Owner of Mhy J’s Refreshment and Dragon Fruit Farm.
“We do market research and feasibility, and when the pandemic happened, Prutasan ni Adan has a variety of food products offered online, and aside from fruits and vegetables, we diversify to ready-to-eat food and fruits in cups,” said Adan.
“When we started the business, we always had that problem of research and development, so we had to travel around the world mostly to the U.S., Europe, and China to learn the new techniques. We want to encourage the young generation to go into modern farming. This is our own little way to help the food security and sustainability in the country,” said Hing.
“Our family has a farm in Barili, and we are producing more than we can consume, and so we make it into a business,” said Unchuan.
“My experience regarding cacao started when I was working for the country manager for Pfizer. He had a farm in Carmen, and he was the guy who told me that we have to learn about cacao because it’s considered to be the next boom, so I started collecting and propagating them,” said Fadriga.
“I am a Canadian citizen who returned to the Philippines, and was looking for a business. I saw that dragon fruit has a lot of health benefits, so I looked at the market to see how in demand it was. In the Philippines, only a few sold these. Only 5% in January 2018. I started a farm then. In 2020, I had a lot of produce, so I opened a store on my farm and a lot visited the farm, and it was viral on the internet. We had refreshments like shakes and food like dragon fruit empanada,” said Gumero.
Aside from Food Sustainability and Food Security, the CBM 2023 Entrepreneurship Summit happening on August 30-September 1, will also feature mentorship and innovation and future proofing and mental health discussions. You may sign up by clicking this link to register.
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