Recognizing that there will always be a high and stable demand for food in a growing population like the Philippines, Supervising Agriculturist Ludivina Rueda of the Department of Agriculture – Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (DA-AMAS) encouraged Filipinos to invest in agribusiness.

“Sa agribusiness, maraming commodities na maliit ang kapital pero mataas ang return of investment o ROI,” said Rueda in her presentation on Agribusiness Investment Opportunities during the AgriCREDITalk, a webinar series by the DA-Agricultural Credit Policy Council (DA-ACPC).

“Agribusiness refers to any business related to agri-fishery activities from seed and agri-inputs supply, farm machinery, production, harvesting and transport, processing, wholesale and retail selling,” she added.

During the webinar, Rueda presented the total costs and the gross and net return of engaging in the production of various commodities such as coconut, mango, banana, coffee, purple yam and cacao.

Rueda emphasized that those who own idle lands should consider venturing in high ROI commodities. “For example, sa banana, around P58,000 lang ang production cost per hectare pero more than P161,000 ang gross return,” she explained.

For fisheries, Rueda discussed the financial requirement overview for milkfish, shrimp, tilapia and seaweeds production. She also presented the potential income for native chicken, native pig, goat, and duck production.

Opportunely, DA-ACPC provides capital for current and aspiring agripreneurs through its affordable credit programs such as the SURE COVID-19, Agri-Negosyo (ANYO) and Kapital Access for Young Agripreneurs (KAYA). “Lahat ito ay walang interes, walang kolateral at may flexible loan term,” said Executive Director Jocelyn Alma Badiola of DA-ACPC.

Aside from facilitating access of agripreneurs to technical training, market-matching, and other agribusiness- and marketing-related assistance, Rueda also encouraged those with existing agri-fishery projects to participate in the Kadiwa Retail Selling, a market system which sells major agricultural goods at reasonably low prices to help poor Filipino households. “Dito, tinuturuan namin ang mga farmers at fishers na mag-market ng kanilang mga produkto,” she shared.

DA-AMAS, DA-ACPC along with the DA Balik Probinsya, Balik Pag-asa, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), and the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) Program comprise the National Program Coordinating Committee which is tasked to take the lead in facilitating access of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the youth to agribusiness assistance services such as loan, training, market linkage, among others.

The online episode also coincided with the celebration of the Farmers’ and Fisherfolk’s Month with the theme “Modernisasyon at Industriyalisasyon Tungo sa Masaganang Ani at Mataas na Kita.”

“Kami sa ACPC ay kaisa sa pagpapatupad ng mga programa para sa modernisasyon at industriyalisasyon ng sektor ng agrikultura sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng access sa madali, abot-kaya, at napapanahong pautang para sa magsasaka at mangingisda at micro and small enterprises,” ED Badiola said.

Watch DA-ACPC’s AgriCREDITalk’s episode on Agribusiness Investment Opportunities by clicking: https://www.facebook.com/agricreditpolicycouncil/videos/299036115622041