San Miguel Corporation (SMC), through its food division San Miguel Foods, has ramped up its local corn purchases, now up 20 percent from September, as part of its commitment to source its raw materials locally.
As of now, the company’s total year-to-date corn purchases stand at 524,155 metric tons, up 20 percent from 436,209 metric tons in September.
SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang said in a statement that this is by far the largest volume ever that the company have sourced directly from farmer cooperatives.
“This is part of our continuing efforts to help boost the incomes of our farmers, who have also been affected by the pandemic,” Ang said.
Earlier this year, following the imposition of COVID-19 lockdown across many parts of the country, SMC announced it would boost sourcing of raw materials from farmer cooperatives referred to the company by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
This is in order to help secure the country’s food supply, and ensure better income for farmers.
The program also came at a time when SMC completed many of its new, modern feed mills nationwide.
The new facilities, equipped with large silos with aerators, are capable of stockpiling and storing corn and other grains for a year, Ang said.
This, according to Ang, will enable the company to buy and store bulk corn longer.
Apart from corn, San Miguel Foods also purchases local cassava from farmer cooperatives nationwide through its Cassava Assembler Program.
The firm’s local cassava purchased for 2020 has already reached 102,608 metric tons, more than double the total purchased in 2019, Ang said.