URC DONATES 135-METRIC TONS
OF POTATO PLANTING MATERIALS
By Jasper Y. Arcalas
Business Mirror
LISTED snack manufacturer Universal Robina Corp. (URC) has entered into a P5-million sustainable potato program partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DA) that seeks to improve local output and cut dependency on imports.
On Thursday URC turned over 135 metric tons (MT) of high-quality potato seeds to the DA and its partner farmers’ cooperative, which could cover about 62 hectares of land. The seeds are expected to yield about 2,700 MT of potatoes every production cycle.
The volume of seeds is enough to last for four production cycles or about two years, according to URC President and CEO Irwin C. Lee.
“This initiative advances our multistakeholder sustainability agenda to accelerate the local potato farming communities’ full economic, social and environmental benefits,” Lee said.
“It also forms part of URC’s People and Planet Friendly Strategy which seeks to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth both for the company and its important stakeholders such as our local potato farmers,” Lee added.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the donation of the URC is an act of “goodwill” as the government allows the food firm to import chipping potatoes, a variety of the rootcrop that is not grown locally due to unsuitability.
Nonetheless, Piñol thanked URC for the initiative as it is the first company to do this for the agriculture sector. He emphasized that the local farm sector needs high-quality seeds to have higher and better produce, such as what the URC donated.
“Our seeds are getting smaller. We need new seeds,” he said.
“What URC did is that they were the ones who found a way to have new seeds for potatoes. We need new planting materials,” he added.
The potato seeds donated by URC to the DA were imported Granola sourced from Canada. The DA is set to distribute the seeds to potato farmers in Benguet, Mountain Province, Bukidnon and Davao del Sur.
Under the partnership, the potato farmers would also be given access to training, research and development through the DA’s attached agencies such as Agricultural Training Institute.
Furthermore, the farmers would have access to URC’s affiliate Robinson Supermarket’s 160 retail outlets nationwide, the company said in a statement.
The seeds from URC are expected to arrive by January next year and would be planted immediately afterward.
“This initiative augurs very well with our own company’s mission of making life better for Filipinos through our various businesses because through this program, a government-initiated and supported aggressive marketing campaign especially for high-value crops like potato will help the farming communities’ full economic, social and environmental benefits be fully realized,” URC Chairman and JG Summit Holdings Inc. President and CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei said.
The country’s table potato demand in 2017 reached 380,333 MT while local production was only at 116,783 MT, according to Gokongwei.
“This put a whopping 69-percent local supply shortage. In the same year alone, the country imported 121,652 MT preprocessed fries which is equivalent to 243,304 MT fresh potatoes,” URC said.
“Hopefully, through this program, the DA will be able to help address this gap in the country’s potato requirement,” URC added.
(Photos by the Dept. of Agriculture Information Division)
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