Kuok group, SMC to develop one million hectares for agricultural production

MANILA, July 4 (PNA) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s championing of food sufficiency for the country has gained the support of two private-sector business giants -- the Shangri-La Hotel chain and the San Miguel Corporation (SMC), who have agreed to embark on a joint effort to develop one million hectares of land for food production under a program called “Feeding the Future.”

The one-million hectare development initiative was revealed by Ambassador Eduardo ‘Danding’ Cojuangco, SMC chairman, in his speech at the launching of the program which the President attended as guest of honor.

Feeding the Future project was unveiled immediately after the ceremonial laying of the time capsule for the Shangri-La Hotel at The Fort – the sixth Shangri-La Hotel to be built in the Philippines and the first hotel to break ground at The Fort.

Saying that he felt honored to be sharing the stage with President Arroyo, Cojuangco stressed that “Feeding the Future” is not a short-term program that will end in 2010, apparently referring to the end of the President’s term, but one that will last for “at least a decade.”

Feeding the Future, he assured, is SMC’s and Shangri-La’s joint contribution in “guaranteeing food supply.”

The one million hectares shall be identified by the government, after which Feeding the Future project shall come in and share its resources and expertise to develop the agricultural sites, aside from donating the seedlings for planting, the SMC chairman said.

Cojuangco also vowed to buy the farmers’ produce at competitive rates as part of an assistance program for farmers. The food sufficiency program, he added, is a “responsibility that we won’t take lightly – securing food for our people via public-private cooperation.”

For his part, Ean Kuok, executive chairman of Shangri-La Asia Ltd., said Feeding the Future program hopes to help assure “access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food at all times.”

Kuok said Shangri-La shall help evaluate the “suitability of (identified) land for agriculture,” and then infuse “financing, chemical support… not limited to irrigation and post-harvest facilities.”