(original poultry image[1] from The Big Book Project)
We are in Barangay Sabang, San Jose, Batangas, at the LMV Farm. We are with the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) listening to ACPC interviewer Karlo Abarqueztalking with Cecille Aldueza, wife of Leo Marvin Virtucio (LMV); I translate & pick freelyfrom the Taglish exchange.
Ms Cecille says of her husband: “He is the full-fledged egg farmer. I cover Finance and Marketing as well as Product Development.”
Around 2012, we started with a small poultry near our house in Lumil. We were based in Makati while developing a farm here in Barangay Sabang. Right now we have 3 buildings.
They settled in San Jose in 2016 to manage their agribusiness full-time.
What we wanted to do was look for bigger markets. We are still small. We are not even 50,000 layers; you compare that with the total bird population in our town of 12 million.
They have 3 buildings, 1 business to take care of carefully. Family affair.
One family takes care of one building. We have a Farm Manager. In the afternoon, we must know how many eggs laid, how much feeds consumed, how many birds died if any. We must see if a building has income or none.
They supply eggs to Metro Manila.
Since 2020, we have been supporting the project of the Department of Agriculture called “Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita.” We have to bring our produce to the National Capital Region.
For management, they converted one garage beside their house into the “Kadiwa Egg Terminal.”
Barangay Lumil is where we have the setup. We have a biosecurity post so that everything that comes in is checked and monitored.
Economically lost to the lockdown the markets of Mimaropa, the Visayas and Mindanao, they looked elsewhere. “Now, it’s timing that Metro Manila needs food supplies.”
We assisted the small poultry raisers; we bought from them; we picked up the eggs, and consolidated them before delivery.
“How does LMV Farm treat its laborers?”
We treat them as family. One building, one family takes care of the operations. Aside from generating jobs for farmworkers, we hire people as crew, sorters of eggs, deliverers of eggs, and we help resellers. That’s how we create livelihoods for many.
It’s all digital:
Because I finished Accountancy and Information Management, I am doing everything digital. I train my workers using their cellphone to encode or text production numbers so we can immediately see.
Borrowed P4 million from ACPC, zero interest. We may add that it would be nicer if the ACPC can implement bigger-scale loans. With the help of successful agri-preneurs, ACPC can teach us to stand on our own feet. It is important that we learn how to help ourselves – and then to help each other.
To that, “Amen” I say!@517
[1]https://thebigbookproject.org/agri/poultry-farming/how-to-start-a-poultry-farm-business-in-the-philippines/
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