To help guide investors considering venturing into farming—whether through one model or another of consolidating small farms into larger units to achieve economies of scale—let me summarize the presentations of resource persons who shared "models of agribusiness consolidation."

First, Ms. Shiryle Estoque (Project Officer I) and Mr. Ronald Tejada (Project Officer II) presented the Farm and Fisheries Clustering and Consolidation (F2C2) Program of the Department of Agriculture. They described how farmers are organized into clusters that function as business enterprises with improved bargaining power. Eligibility requires groups to be organized as juridical entities for at least one year and meet minimum production area requirements, such as 100 hectares for rice or 25 hectares for high-value crops like vegetables or fruits. The program facilitates credit access through an agricultural credit rating system and links clusters with institutional buyers via a “Big Brother-Small Brother” partnership. As of December 2025, the initiative has successfully developed 1,747 clusters involving over 747,000 farmer-members across more than 923,000 hectares.

Next was the Bondoc Peninsula Convergence Effort, described by Director Bibiano Concibido, a Regional Manager of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA). This program is a private-sector-driven and farmer-centric approach. The convergence aligns partners like Chemrez and Leads Agri to organize small farmers into cooperatives, thereby breaking the multi-layered supply chain. Key accomplishments include assisting seven cooperatives with market integration, supporting four shared processing facilities, and establishing over 3,000 hybrid seedlings. Additionally, the program provides social assistance, having insured some 4,501 farmers and identified qualified scholars for educational support.

Hon. Rico Geron, CEO of the highly successful Sorosoro Ibaba Development Corporation (SIDC) in Batangas, reported that SIDC serves as a primary model of growth. Since 1969, it has expanded from a 59-member group into a massive cooperative with total assets of ₱7.9 billion as of 2025. SIDC operates through interconnected business units—such as feed mills, rice mills, and livestock units—to create a circular economy where by-products like chicken manure and rice hulls are recycled into certified organic fertilizers. The cooperative ensures market access by distributing products like “Golden Lay Eggs” and “Gintong Gawad” rice through its own chain of supermarkets. Their internal financing arm, KOOPINOY, provides essential credit access for farmers.

Mr. Donnel Tiedra, Public Affairs Executive of Nestlé, shared another example of successful clustering. The NESCAFÉ Plan addresses the supply gap in the Philippine coffee industry, where local production meets only 15 percent of annual requirements. Eschewing the misplaced 20th-century drive for rice self-sufficiency, this plan focuses on Regenerative Agriculture. This involves teaching small farmers ten key practices, such as agroforestry and intercropping (e.g., with coconut), to improve soil health and climate resilience. Through Project Coffee+—a partnership with the DA and GIZ (the German government’s international development agency)—participating farmers have seen average yields triple from 240 kg to 1,000 kg per hectare. Consequently, over 80 percent of these farmers have successfully crossed the poverty threshold.

It is clear from these examples that helping small farmers become more productive in the Philippines is generally a means to escape poverty, rather than a way to attain a “quantum leap” in global competitiveness. In Vietnam, more effective consolidation leads to coffee productivity as high as 3,000 kg (3 tons) per hectare; unsurprisingly, Vietnam is now the world's second-largest coffee exporter.

I cannot repeat this reality enough: improving smallholder productivity is an indispensable tool for reducing poverty, which is a more vital goal than simply chasing GDP growth. However, accelerating GDP growth to eight percent annually will require more aggressive land consolidation to reach significant economies of scale. We must apply the “banana and pineapple models” to products like coffee, cacao, cashew, avocado, mango, bamboo, pili, and durian, while continuing to support the millions of small farmers who predominate in rice, corn, and poultry.

Session 3 featured further cases. Mr. Roberto Alingog, Chairman of ADAMCO, discussed how the disadvantages of land fragmentation can be addressed through technology rather than physical merging. He cited the rice combine harvester, which can serve multiple farmers. This move toward mechanization—the essence of the first Industrial Revolution—improves income without requiring physical farm merging.

Manual harvesting often results in 15 percent to 20 percent grain loss due to labor delays; a harvester reduces this to approximately five percent. To motivate the adoption of these expensive machines (₱1.5 million to ₱1.8 million), Mr. Alingog has even issued "personal" or "company" guarantees to buyers, promising to return down payments if they cannot recover their investment within two years.

To aid efficient management, Mr. Alingog proposed an organized system covering the “7 Ps”:

1. Planning

2. Planting

3. Plant care

4. Pre-harvest

5. Post-harvest

6. Procurement and Purchase

7. Pathways to the Plate

He concluded that technology alone is insufficient; true success requires the “consolidation of technology, information, financing, and community participation.”

To be continued.