Thailand giant Agri group to invest $2-B in Philippines

THAILAND’S largest agricultural corporation, the Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group), is investing an estimated $2 billion in the Philippines over the next five years to produce pork and chicken both for the local and export market, according to Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol. Piñol, who was among senior Philippine government officials that accompanied President Rodrigo Duterte in his recent trip to Thailand, said the investments would greatly benefit the Filipino farmers and the country’s economy.

He said Duterte during a meeting with CP Group officials led by its Chairman Dhanin Chearavanont at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, welcomed the planned investment of the Thai corporation in the Philippines.

Chearavanont said his corporation will donate a modest amount of P10 million for Duterte's campaign against illegal drugs and for his rural development program, according to Piñol, who said that the CP Group is already operating in the Philippines, mainly in Luzon, but it would like to expand its operations to the Visayas and Mindanao where the threat of typhoons is less.

Piñol further claimed that Chearavanont has told them that CP Group has decided to pour more investments in the Philippines because of its distinction as the only country in the whole of Asia which is free from Food and Mouth Disease and Avian Influenza or Bird Flu.

The hog and chicken production project of CP Group will be divided into 10 modules utilising about 6,000 hectares per module for the production of corn and soybeans to be used in its feed production, Piñol said, adding, this would mean a huge market for the country's corn farmers and the introduction of soybeans production to the Philippines. An estimated 2,000 workers will be employed by the new CP Group operations.

Chearavanont said he would prefer a compact area for the production of corn so that farmers could be taught the modern technology in corn farming to make them more productive.

Piñol said the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries informed Duterte that a technical working group will be organised to assist the CP Group in identifying the areas where their new operations would be established.

“President Duterte initially suggested the provinces of Bukidnon, Saranggani, North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Zamboanga del Norte, Agusan del Sur and Agusan del Norte as possible sites for the CP Group investments,” Piñol said, adding, Duterte thanked Chearavanont for his investments and assured the Thai tycoon that the requirements for the start of the operations of the projects will be facilitated.

“One thing that I can assure you is that nobody will bother you. There will be no corruption under my administration and you will get the fair return of your investments in my country,” Piñol quoted Duterte as telling Chearavanont.