COUPLE ON THE RICE
Last 3 July, I introduced the couple Patrick Renucci and his wife, Rachel Renucci-Tan who, responding to the call for assistance to the typhoon “Yolanda” victims, decided to settle in the Philippines and establish, right in Leyte, Chen Yi Agventures, which provides the farmers with low-interest loans in the form of high-quality inbred seeds, fertilizers and equipment to mechanize planting and harvesting.
The farmers have benefited immensely, earning multiple fold from their efforts without having to pass through unscrupulous middle men. In this issue, we continue with the excerpts from the Zoom interview Lifestyle editor, Dinah Sabal Ventura, and I conducted with this compassionate and life-changing couple.
Daily Tribune (DT): Did you have to study everything from scratch when you started your rice production and post-harvest company?
Rachel Renucci-Tan (RRT): Patrick has become a national expert on rice and he taught himself not by reading books, but by going out into the fields. And planting with the farmers, preparing the land for the farmers, planting with them and harvesting with them. In fact, he contracted schistosomiasis which is a disease endemic to Leyte.
Our country has been through much. We’ve been here for almost a year now and there is no end in sight.
Patrick Renucci (PR): It’s very challenging to work in the rice field. If you never walked in the rice field, you will never know that it is very difficult. We go back to how we learn. People do agri all over the world. Even the poorest countries are doing agri so we were not afraid to do something we didn’t know. It was not going to be easy to do it, but we had no choice because when we introduced mechanization, like tractors, and combined harvesters during the time when mechanization in the Philippines was very low, nobody knew how to operate the tractors. I had to go to the field, pitch the record and explain how to operate.
Helping farmers increase their income DT: What was it like dealing with the people?
PR: It was challenging because the Waray people are very emotional so when you try to explain something, they sometimes don’t understand. And it’s difficult for them to change the way they do things. We knew that we were at the starting point of this. But eventually, we had a positive impact, with farmers joining our program and the municipality becoming second-class. We believe all these positive developments were pushed by Chen Yi because we really helped the farmers increase their income. From day one, we knew that the farmers were important.
DT: What kind of technology are you using?
PR: We went to China, we went to Taiwan, went around the Philippines to visit the rice fields, the big builders even in China, and try to understand how they operate. When I first saw the big millers in China, I was impressed because there were so many pipes going up and down. What we noticed, when we visit the hightech millers, there’s always one brand coming back. It was always Sataki. So we contacted Sataki and explained what we wanted to do and they made plans and we worked together, did the engineering together. And then we ended up building the most advanced rice-processing complex in most Southeast Asia. .
We keep the records of our production so that means if there is a problem, we know because the batch number has traceability. We know which farm provided us this palay. When we produce rice, we are sure that our rice is good.
New purchasing habits DT: How did the pandemic affect your business?
RRT: It was a very challenging year for us because due to the lockdowns, we experienced the impact of economic slowdown on the income of our customers. And since we were producing premium rice, with the reduced spending power of the average Filpino people, they bought the cheaper rice. The closure of restaurants also dampened our business because not only did the restaurant shut down. When they reopened, they were allowed only 25 to 30 percent capacity. And then when it came to the supermarkets, after the panic buying was over, people started to shift their buying habits to online so the orders of the supermarket also plummeted down to 30 percent of their original purposes. We’ve had to adjust to the new purchasing habits of our customers by going heavily online. We are also planning to enter the wet market as well. We’ve had to reduce the price of our rice just to be able to adapt to the new purchasing power of our consumers.
DT: How have you been dealing with the other millers?
Don’t they feel threatened by your presence?
RRT: I don’t think so because we are relatively small.
Farmers’ Acaedemy
DT: Are you expanding the reach of your technology?
RRT: Yes. In fact, we are opening a Farmers’ Academy. We will teach the farmers and we will teach the technology to many people who enroll in the school. We are also in the process of enrolling students. But we will stick to Leyte now.
DT: What kind of support are you getting from the local government? RRT: The Department of Agriculture has always been supportive of our business and our program. We’re always called in to talk about our experiences. We’re currently working together to form an alliance to distribute our inputs. PR: I encourage the Philippine government to improve the Agrarian Reform Law and to allow the landowner to to lease out their farm. I believe that we can improve this law and it will bring huge improvement to the rice industry in the Philippines.
Simple people
DT: What do you both do for recreation?
RRT: We’ve been really working hard and it has not been easy. For recreation, Patrick cooks and we see a few friends to add some balance to our lives. We travel for Christmas to see other places.
PR: We are very simple people. We are happy when we are together because we are in love. Food has an important space in our lives. We really like what we are doing so when we see a positive impact on farmers, we are happy. We don’t feel like it is work.
DT: What would you like to tell our viewers?
RRT: Our country has been through much. We’ve been here for almost a year now and there is no end in sight. The most important thing is to remember what our core values are and why do we get up every morning. What is the purpose of life? And you’ll realize that it’s quite simple: It’s being able to love with all your heart, being able to listen, and to make sure they are fulfilled. Get up every morning and feel the grace of God.
We really like what we are doing so when we see a positive impact on farmers, we are happy. We don’t feel like it is work