MANILA, Philippines - Fresh fruits producer Dole Philippines plans to expand its plantation area in the country to meet the growing demand for its products.
In an interview, Dole Philippines general manager for ASEAN cluster Noel Casanova said the company aims to further grow its 17,000 hectare plantation facility in South Cotabato to about 25,000 hectares.
Casanova said the Philippines is an important market for Dole, particularly with the presence of its South Cotabato plant.
“The largest facility of Dole is located in Mindanao and that accounts for 80 percent of the global production,” Casanova said.
Dole is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of fresh fruits and vegetables with a presence in over 90 countries and a portfolio of around 300 products.
According to earlier reports, Dole Philippines recently added 3,000 hectares to its plantation facility in South Cotabato.
Casanova said the company is continuously looking for land to acquire in the area to be able to expand its plantation facility.
“As I’ve said 80 percent of the world’s production comes from the Philippines and one way for us to achieve that is to keep acquiring land,” Casanova said.
The expansion will allow the company to cater to the rising demand for fruits globally, Casanova said.
“Everywhere in the world, the demand for fruits has been growing exponentially. So this is our way to keep up with the demand,” Casanova said.
Dole also has farms in the Bukidnon area.
Apart from providing healthy nutrition options to the market with its fresh fruits and vegetables, Dole remains aggressive with its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs particularly on the areas of environment, health and education, he said.
One example of the company’s CSR programs is its Sunshine Heroes project, which it recently rolled out to five pilot schools in Metro Manila. The program seeks to teach school children about recycling by putting up material recovery facilities (MRFs) in their schools and requesting them to bring household recyclable wastes to the facility.
The collected wastes will then be sold to local recyclers and the generated money will be used for their school activities.