Jollibee provides add'l market for farmers

MANILA, Philippines - Bulb onion is not traditionally grown in Bukidnon, which is the center for corn and cattle.

But because there is now a ready market for big-sized red onions in Jollibee Foods Corp. and its subsidiaries, farmers from Impasugong, Bukidnon who were organized and clustered by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), an NGO based in the United States, and the Kaanib Foundation Inc. are now augmenting their annual incomes with a new crop.

Raising the new crop in Bukidnon was a source of ridicule for the farmers who participated in the new marketing tie-up with Jollibee.

“At first, my colleagues teased me endlessly about getting into onions since this crop was never raised here,” said Ruben Halasan, 36 who used to plant only corn and tomatoes year round.  Ruben is one of the 90 farmers in Impasugong, organized into barangay-based small groups of five to 15 called clusters that facilitate efficient organizing of farm production and marketing activities.

“We had three farm trials and when our samples sent to Luzon passed the quality test of Jollibee, we were able to earn from onions in my 80 square meter patch here. In that piece of land, he said, he was able to harvest 200 kilos, half of which was bought by Jollibee and the rest was sold in the local market.”

He and other participating farmers held a dialogue with JFC Foundation executive director Ma. Gisela Tiongson and JFC corporate communications manager Gilda Maquilan last Oct. 19 during the World Food Day celebration.

They lamented that since Bukidnon does not have a good dose of sunlight—with its climate categorized only as wet and very wet— “not all of our onions can grow to the size needed by Jollibee, which gives us a very good pre-agreed rate.”

The farmers said they are still in the process of refining their farm practices so that they can grow more of the larger sized onions that Jollibee buys than the smaller ones that are sold to traders. So they can earn not just from onions, Tiongson encouraged Kaanib and CRS to also organize the consolidation from onion farmers of other high value vegetables that might be presented for consideration also by the JFC management. This is in support of the program to promote farm diversification through the monthly planting of high value crops like onions and vegetables in small areas that give the farmers more frequent cash flow to augment the seasonal harvest of corn.

“If you have the volumes and quality our company needs, why not? You can supply us with the high value vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, and others,” Tiongson said.

Jollibee confirms that its marketing tie-up, a corporate social responsibility program with the Bukidnon onion growers, as organized by Kaanib Foundation Inc. and Catholic Relief Services and assisted by the National Livelihood Development Corp., forms part of the Aquino administration’s private public partnerships to help farmers improve their incomes through crop diversification.

Jollibee commits to buy all the big-sized onions, measuring over two inches for use in its food production as well as its other fastfood chains like Greenwich. The smaller onions will be sold by the farmers to wet markets in Bukidnon and the neighboring province of Cagayan de Oro.

The first onion harvest, which coincided with the World Food Day celebration, in the province last Tuesday was attended by officials from the Department of Agriculture.