Mr. Alex V. Buenaventura, President of Land Bank of the Philippines, presented the business model dubbed as "corporative" which marries the concept of corporate farming and the features of cooperatives to help smallholder farmers organize themselves into a major player in the agricultural food markets. According to Mr. Buenaventura, a "Joint Venture Corporative" or JVC is a stock-for-profit corporation, 49% of which will be owned by hundreds of small farmers and fisherfolks, and 51% of which will be owned by a big agri processing corporation.
Among its "unique pro-farmer features" include the JVC being totally managed by a large land "consolidation" of small farms, ownership of which will remain with the small farmers who will enter an individual "Farm Management Agreement" with JVC; and providing regular employment and housing loans to participating farmers.
Following the presentation was a panel discussion with Ms. Evelyn G. Laviña, Undersecretary for Agribusiness and High Value Crops of the Department of Agriculture (DA); Mr. Dante S. Delima, Chief Operating Officer of Agri-tech Integrated Services Corporation; and Mr. Reynaldo Antonio D. Laguda, Executive Director of PBSP, who gave their perspectives on "corporative" and agricultural modernization from the public, private, and non-government sectors.
In his message, SEARCA Director Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit, Jr. said that with the Center's initiatives geared towards agribusiness and entrepreneurship, and value chain development for agricultural commodities, it hopes to help smallholder farmers so that they can competitively participate and benefit from the growing agricultural food markets. (Sophia M. Mercado)
