Ayala ventures into corporate rice farming

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture has pilot tested its corporate rice farming project (CRFP) with conglomerate Ayala Corp.

The CRFP is in line with the Ayala Group’s commitment to support the growth of agriculture in the country and help uplift the lives of farmers.

The Ayala Multipurpose Cooperative, Dingle Multipurpose Cooperative, and Seda Atria signed a rice supply agreement, the first of its kind under the DA’s CRFP.

Under the agreement, AMPC serves as a conduit between farm service providers Dingle and the Ayala Group for Seda Atria’s rice requirements.

The CRFP is the national government’s way of connecting rice farmers across the country to institutional buyers.

Ayala was the first company to pledge its support to this initiative when Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol met with Ayala chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala and Ayala Foundation president Ruel Maranan early this year to discuss how the Ayala Group could help improve farmers’ livelihood.

Seda senior group general manager Andrea Mastellone said other Seda hotels were working on similar collaborations in their respective localities to expand the program implementation.

The company is upbeat that the pilot program will attract more partners in various industries and strengthen the collaboration between government and the private sector to ensure sustainable progress and national development.

The Ayala cooperative has also vowed to promote the program to other Ayala-led companies.

“We value food security and to ensure this, we need a robust agricultural sector. There needs to be a strong collaboration between the government and the private sector. This is our way of showing our support to our farmers,” Ayala Foundation senior director Joanna Duarte added.