Unifrutti signs deal for Maguindanao banana farms

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Chiquita-Unifrutti is a Singapore-based company owned by Chiquita of the US and the De Nadai International Group of Italy.
Business World

Unifrutti signs deal for Maguindanao banana farms

By Carmelito Q. Francisco

DAVAO CITY -- The Unifrutti Group of Companies has partnered with local companies to start its banana expansion project in Maguindanao by signing an agreement covering 2,000 hectares of banana farms in the province.

John Paul C. Perrine, company president, said the group’s infusion of $60 million investment “is just a start,” given a bigger plan to develop about 4,000 hectares for banana starting next year.

The company is tapping two locally incorporated companies, Al-Sahar and Al-Khalifa, to set up the farms.

“We have faith (in Maguindanao as an investment area); and we believe (that the investments will grow),” said Mr. Perrine.

Unifrutti will break ground on the plantation on Nov. 8.

Mr. Perrine said the company anchored its trust in Maguindanao as an investment area after a successful banana farming venture in Datu Paglas.

Datu Paglas, the town of the late mayor Ebrahim Paglas, became a model for development when the Paglas family partnered with the multinational to develop about 1,000 hectares into a banana farm.

Mr. Paglas then told BusinessWorld that among farm workers are rebels who threw their firearms and started working in the fields.

The company, Mr. Perrine added, has found it “easy to invest in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (because) it has an enlightened leadership.” That was the reason, he added, the company did not wait for the eventual setting up of the Bangsamoro, an entity that will replace the autonomous region based on the agreement that the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed early this year.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael G. Mangudadatu, representing the areas that would be covered by the project, thanked the company for its continued trust on the province.

“I hope this project can generate more employment opportunities in this part of Mindanao and I hope it will also boost the economic activities of the province,” said Mr. Mangudadatu.

He added that his province has cornered about a third of the total investments in the autonomous region.

Mr. Perrine said his company has continued to invite other big companies to move their operations to the province.

One company, he said, has finalized its plan to develop about 4,000 hectares in coffee plantation. He did not elaborate.

--

Fresh Fruit Portal | 20 September 2014


A subsidiary of Chiquita Brands International in the Philippines has told the local press of plans to invest US$120 million in new banana plantations in an area previously occupied by an Islamic terrorist group.

Chiquita-Unifruitti senior vice-president Edgar L. Bullecer told Bworldonline.com the new farm would cover 4,000 hectares of land in the area of Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao, which was a stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) until government forces took it over in 2000.

“Investing in what used to be the (MILF) camp is significant because we have been pushing for peace and development as a solution to armed conflict, Bullecer was quoted as saying.

“We will be able to provide employment and income to at least 6,000 people.”

He told the publication the move followed an investment with the Paglas family in a 1,000-hectare farm in the province, which is part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
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