As an agricultural nation, the Philippines has all the time regarded farmers as its spine, particularly with thousands and thousands of Filipinos relying on them for meals, but those that toil and feed the nation are additionally the poorest.
The place Cherrie Atilano grew up in Negros Occidental, farm staff additionally wrestle with low yields and the shortage of entry to a market to promote their merchandise for good income. When she was simply 12 years previous, Atilano began working with these farmers, as a part of the necessities of her being a scholar in agricultural research, and witnessed first-hand the inequalities and mistreatment they confronted.
It was a novel association, the place a grant was provided to kids rising up within the sugarcane plantation the place Atilano lived. Students had to cross on what they be taught at school to these of their communities. The Western Visayas province, the place Negros is a part of, has its financial system depending on sugar however staff additionally flip to vegetable farming for their very own subsistence.
Atilano, now the founder and chief govt officer of Agrea Agricultural Methods Worldwide, an inclusive agribusiness pushed to eradicate poverty and guaranteeing meals safety within the Philippines, informed Eco-Enterprise she recollects instructing the farmers residing alongside her household totally different strategies of accelerating their yields.
It was a enjoyable and pure factor to do, she mentioned, so when she graduated from college, and was confronted with the prospect of embarking on a prestigious Fulbright scholarship, an alternate programme in america, she turned it all the way down to arrange her personal social enterprise, which sought to coach farmers within the decision-making facets of their commerce.
In 2015, Atilano then arrange Agrea, which purchased crops at fairer costs straight from farmers and bought them to different companies.
By Agrea’s coaching programmes, farmers had been taught to plant various and high-value crops to extend yield. Since then, it has offered 500 farmers, a lot of whom personal lower than one hectare of land, with monetary literacy and natural agriculture abilities which have improved their earnings to as much as US$400 a month, mentioned Atilano.
Final 12 months, Agrea entered right into a partnership the place it offered greater than 60,000 meals every day to corporates. This has improved the livelihoods of at the very least 2,000 farmers, from whom the meals is straight sourced from.
On this interview, the 36 year-old entrepreneur who additionally proudly identifies a farmer too, tells Eco-Enterprise about her advocacy work, particularly for girls within the farming neighborhood, in addition to the politics and energy dynamics that affect on the Philippines’ agricultural sector.
Are you able to inform us extra about your advocacy work?
My household lived close to a cuartel, which was a short lived residence for sakadas (migrant staff who labored within the sugar plantation owned by a landlord). My father was in control of the sakadas, bringing them in from totally different provinces to work as discipline arms in Negros.
He died after I was turning 4 years previous. My mom all the time shared with us tales about how he fought for the rights of the sakadas within the Nineteen Eighties, from the variety of hours they labored to offering them social safety advantages and guaranteeing that they had sufficient meals provide allotted as soon as harvest and milling season ended. He even hosted lunch gatherings for them on Sundays so that they gained’t be homesick.
It made me realise rising up that I wished to take his pro-farmer strategy and reinvent that. Sugarcane enterprise is massive. With their harvests, landlords may help enhance the livelihoods of individuals as an alternative of taking the cash to purchase a brand new automotive.
Cherrie Atilano (proper) leads a coaching session on sensible agriculture for 31 coconut farmers in Camalig, Albay. Picture: Agrea
You handed up a Fulbright scholarship to assist farmers. Have you ever ever regretted that selection?
If I had chosen to simply accept the scholarship, my course would have been in worldwide agricultural improvement, focusing on sustainable agriculture. It was an enormous factor then in 2011. The Sustainable Improvement Targets (SDGs) had been launched (by the United Nations) the next 12 months.
However I by no means regretted it. I might not have been the entrepreneur that I’m now. I might have been a scientist or a part of academia. However the 4 years I spent on the Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm the place I used to be instructing younger individuals about sustainable agriculture actually strengthened my sense of entrepreneurship in farming that led me to type Agrea. It felt like I did a masters in enterprise administration in farming.
Years later, I ended up working with the UN anyway. [Atilano was appointed as a UN food systems champion and participates in global conferences to share her expertise on the link between food and climate.]
What was the largest spotlight in your profession in 2023?
We partnered with an organisation that caters meals for workers throughout varied industries. Vegatables and fruits had been sourced from our farmers, and we had been in a position to present as much as 60,000 meals every day.
Agrea would pay the farmers based mostly on the present prevailing farm-gate value or the promoting value between farmers and merchants, largely dictated by the latter. So far, commodities are actively sourced from 2,000 farmers from a gaggle we shaped through the pandemic.
A few of them had been from our ladies farmers’ affiliation in Majayjay, Laguna, whereas some are from Payatas, Quezon. There are over 200 of them who’re actively skilled. There are a thousand others who’re housewives or single moms who’re nonetheless studying. I’ve a bias for single moms as a result of I used to be raised by one.
Farmers from Agrea’s Girls Meals Producers Affiliation in Payatas, Quezon, who’re primarily housewives and single moms.They’re skilled to plant greens like radish and eggplant from city gardens. Picture: Zeny Gallanos/ WFPA
What’s the most difficult a part of your job?
The dearth of infrastructure provide chain and logistics within the Philippines is an issue. For instance, we get quite a lot of our fruits like bananas, pineapples, pomelos, honeydews and melons from one supplier in South Cotabato, Mindanao [the southernmost island group in the country]. These take three days to achieve Manila, and we rely on no matter trucking system we will hire. Our provider transports the products utilizing the roll-on, roll-off (RORO) [ a vessel designed to transport wheeled cargo that can be driven on and off the ship].
We even have farmers in Majayjay who’re our suppliers for tomatoes, cucumber, radish, and ampalaya (bitter gourd). They must plant on the slopes of Mt. Banahaw [an active volcano that straddles the provinces of Laguna and Quezon]. The greens must be introduced down utilizing a horse as a result of there aren’t farm-to-market roads. The farmers pay the horse house owners 2 to three pesos (US$0.036-0.054) per kilogramme (kg) of greens they transport and merchants purchase the products for under about 5 pesos (US$0.089) per kg. What about prices of manufacturing and labour? In Agrea, we’ll purchase it for 30 to 35 pesos (US$0.54-0.62) per kg so that they get a greater earnings.
Meals loss can be enormous, with about 30 to 40 per cent of the products spoilt in transit.
A farmer hundreds his horse with baskets of harvested purple yam from his household’s farm in Daraitan, Rizal province. Some distant areas within the Philippines nonetheless make use of horses to move their crops to {the marketplace}. Picture: Basilio H. Sepe / Greenpeace
Regardless of the challenges, what conjures up you and retains you going?
After we join farmers to the market, they usually come again to say thanks for getting their produce at a value that offers them the next earnings, that conjures up me.
There may be a lot politics in agriculture. Meals is politics, extra so in a rustic the place meals is beneath the management of some. On the worldwide stage, I inform individuals concerning the stress that farmers within the Philippines face. There are laws that make issues so tough for them, reminiscent of licence restrictions for regenerative farming which might be imposed with out session. We should be extra farmer-centric.
Some individuals may need a low regard for farmers, as a result of they see them as uneducated and poor. What would you say to that?
If there are not any farmers, there isn’t any meals. So so long as it is advisable eat, you must respect them. If you will be demeaning to farmers, I might say, then don’t eat, and also you’ll realise so that you’ll realise how vital they’re. I wish to change how individuals see farmers.
Folks additionally query my option to be a social entrepreneur in agriculture as a result of it doesn’t earn a lot cash. Possibly I do produce other choices in life, however I’ll nonetheless proceed to do that work. I can’t do one thing if I really feel it’s not impactful.
For me agriculture brings collectively caring for the surroundings and educating individuals. I’m able to do local weather mitigation; I’m able to pursue my ardour for schooling by my farm college – I’m able to do all my advocacy work in a single business.
Cherrie Atilano was certainly one of 10 sustainability leaders chosen for the Eco-Enterprise A-Checklist 2023. Learn our tales with the opposite winners right here.
