Saturday, February 10, 2007
ONB to partner with S. Cotabato cassava farmers
A BIG cassava farm in Tampakan, South Cotabato with an area of about 100 hectares is being eyed by One Network Bank (ONB) after it gets the nod of San Miguel Foods, Inc. (SMFI) to buy its produce.
ONB president Alex V. Buenaventura said the partnership will be firmed up with the signing of the Supply and Produce Agreement for a 10-year contract on February 16 at the main office of SMFI in Manila.
The SMFI will buy the fresh tubers from cassava farmer-grower and will process them into feeds.
The farmers will get an P18,000 per hectare short term loan for 10 months from ONB, the processing of which will start in March.
But Buenaventura said that farm growers must meet the projected production volume of 51 metric tons of fresh tubers per hectare per year.
"What is good with SMFI is that they agreed to increase the target from 25 metric tons, which they based on their normal harvest experience. With that the farmer could cut on cost of inputs by P12,000 per hectare. The 51 MT is a doable production," he said.
He said attaining such target would indicate that the farm is doing profit because aside from helping the farmers through a supervised farming technician, ONB also want them to gain profit.
"The estimated net income for growing cassava is pegged at P39,000 per hectare each year," Buenaventura said.
He also said that SMFI opted to venture into such arrangement because of import substitution. It appears that it will be more costly if San Miguel sourced out its feeds from Thailand, the importation of which would be limited and might hamper their feed mill supply for their poultry and livestock business.
"One good thing with cassava is that the farmer can defer drying when there is bad weather and they will not also worry about the tubers getting spoiled," Buenaventura said.
He said there are other areas on cassava growing that SMFI is into but ONB also as a matter of policy agrees with the partners on what are their preferred areas.
Meanwhile, Buenaventura said the ONB also consider to venture into other crops like palm oil and rubber.
The two crops however are still being studied because ONB, he said, will only come in when there is a clear long time contract with the buyer.
"It would be difficult if there are no assured markets of the product," he said.For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (February 10, 2007 issue)
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