By Psyche Roxas-Mendoza /Exclusive to the BusinessMirror
Conclusion
DESPITE being an agricultural country, the Philippines is among the top rice importers in the world.
Government figures show that agriculture accounts for only 11 percent of the nation’s GDP as of 2014, even as it employs 30 percent of the country’s total work force. About two out of three farmers live below the poverty line. Their average age is 57 and their average income is P2,000 a month.
Hard facts like these, combined with the latest developments in social media, have led to the emergence of Cropital.com—a crowdfunding platform that sources funds for farmers via the Internet from people and investors who want to lend money to farmers’ groups in return for a modest return on investment for the money they lent.
Cropital.com
ONE of the start-up companies that exhibited during the University of the Philippines (UP) Knowledge Festival in April in Tagaytay City, Cropital.com is composed of aspiring technopreneurs helped by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-UP Enterprise Center for Technopreneurship.
The DOST mentioned on its web site that in 2011 it provided funding of P6.7 million to the Enterprise Center as part of its support program for Technology Business Incubation. The Philippine Economic Zone Authority and UP contributed P2.5 million and P2.2 million, respectively.
“Help” to these newbie technopreneurs also comes in the form of identifying target markets; developing and packaging their technology product, fine-tuning their business plan; and increasing investment and marketing opportunities.
Enterprise Center Manager Jacinto Asuncion Jr. said “Currently, they [Cropital.com] have covered farmers from Bulacan, Quezon, Laguna and Benguet. They are now rolling around P2 million to P3 million of funds for the farmers. They have finished already, some cycles of borrowing, some of the farmers have, finished paying already and they have just launched their new farmers’ funding in Benguet, where high-value crops are coming from.”
In explaining how successful Cropital.com has been, Asuncion related in a message to the BusinessMirror that on June 10 “after one day, all farms are now fully funded.”
“More than 10 farmers from Bulacan, Quezon and Benguet will now be provided with the support they need to move forward this cropping season,” Asuncion said.
He added that in total, Cropital.com has received more than P1.5 million in one day and got 696 farm pledges. “More farms will be posted soon! Sign-up at www.cropital.com to be updated! #SupportFarmers #Cropital #Agriculture #Philippines,” Asuncion said.
The crowdfunding for farmers’ platform has step-by-step procedures for those who want to invest in Cropital.com
Funding farmers
AS mentioned on their beta web site: Choose farm to invest on. Sign up and register to be able to view and invest on the selection of farms curated for this beta run.
Once the farm has been fully funded, farmers will be provided with the resources they need to start farming.
Farmers will next be empowered to improve their produce. The funds and resources will then be utilized to improve production. We are the ones managing the fund for the farmer, making sure it goes to the right resources and making sure you’ll get your return on investment.
After the harvest and once the produce have been sold, the capital will return to the investor’s wallet together with the profit shared.
It is made clear on their web site that all farmers participating in the program have been verified and selected through the assistance of the local government unit. Farmers are required to submit an application form and barangay clearance, and have to undergo an interview with Cropital.com. Only those who will pass the process will be allowed to join the program.
Farmers are also provided with access to crop insurance. According to Cropital, the crop insurance under Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. has already been integrated in the amount of capital raised to these farmers.
Farmers are also provided with access to agriculturists to infuse best practices in pest prevention/mitigation of crop pests. Crop insurance also covers damages from pests.
Cropital said it sets a cap on the amount of money you can invest on a farm. This is to encourage spreading out money to different farms, so as to lessen the risk to the user in case of unfortunate events.
Perhaps, the best guarantee that Cropital.com is legit is its affiliation to UP and the DOST. Cropital holds office on the third floor of the UP National Engineering Center in UP Diliman, Quezon City.
Still, as in all businesses, there are always risks.
Ready
MEANWHILE, in UP Los Baños the scientists of Project Sarai (Smarter Approaches to Reinvigorate Agriculture as an Industry in the Philippines) are now wrapping up their three-year project, packaging the results, making presentations and training.
“We have a line of products that we have developed together with the International Plant Nutrition Institute,” Sarai Program Leader Vicky Espaldon. “We have ‘Ready,’ a computer calculator or mobile-phone calculator for rice or corn crops.”
Ready gets information from the farmer about the size of his farm lot, activities the farmer is undertaking, variety of the crop the farmer is planting, fertilizer and pesticide he uses.
When the farmer has provided all that input, he will see at the lower portion of the calculator how much he will earn.
Thus, the very start, he will see that if he does this, then this will be his income potential. If he chooses this other one, this will be his income potential. He always has a choice.
“You can even consult Ready if you want to change your organic fertilizer,” Espaldon said. “Our hope, really, is to set up, in the future, an electronic farmer’s clinic at the local government level.”
Between the scientist and the technopreneur—in the borderless age of information technology—the agriculture landscape has become a brave, new world for the Filipino farmer.
And for the children of this marginalized sector, organizations that address their education needs are gaining local and international recognition for their efforts.
To date, French-Filipino Henry Motte-Muñoz, founder of Edukasyon.ph, has received the following awards: Forbes’ List of 30 Under 30 (2016), Asia 21 Young Leader, Mega Pinoy Pride awardee, top 5 at the Harvard Business School Club of France New Venture Competition.
Image credits: Celso Espaldon