Dennis Uy to expand presence in agriculture

Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy is aggressively looking at expanding his presence in the agriculture sector with plans to develop more farm areas in Mindanao.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Uy is considering exporting bananas and mangoes and converting MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) areas in Mindanao into farms. “He has always been interested [in agriculture]. He’s establishing an agri and food company,” Piñol said.

Piñol said Uy is also considering the development of the Polloc Port in Maguindanao, which has not been fully utilized due to peace problems in the area, Piñol said.

“With the signing of the Bangsamoro law and his planned partnership for his banana farms, the loading port for his possible exports would be Polloc. We already did an initial survey of the area.”

He added that Uy also expressed interest in setting up a meat goat farm in Davao or Cotabato with plans to acquire 2,000 heads of meat breed from Texas.

“We are just assisting him. If he will be successful in establishing that farm, that could be the source of our goat stocks for dispersal later on,” Piñol said.

Last year, Uy’s holding company Udenna Corp. said it was investing in the construction of the first-ever rubber manufacturing plant in the country worth $200 million. Feasibility studies are ongoing for the project.

The planned manufacturing plant will cater to domestic consumption for the production of tires for passenger vehicles, cargo, small pick-ups and agricultural machineries.

It is estimated to have a production capacity of four million tires per year. One tire averages 10 kilograms and is composed of 40 percent natural rubber from the estimated 130,000 hectares of local rubber farms.

This will translate to about 16,000 metric tons more of rubber to be planted and produced annually.