AT LEAST 14,000 former and current rebels will be enlisted in banana production project as part of the effort of the Department of Agriculture to contribute to the peace process.
Agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol on Thursday said that during his state visit to Japan earlier this year, his department signed a memorandum of understanding with Japanese commodity supplier Farmind, which supplies to Japanese retail supermarkets.
The DA agreed to supply 20 million boxes of Cavendish bananas to Farmind annually.
The Japanese supplier agreed to the idea that the farms where the bananas will come from will be operated in former or existing conflict areas to give livelihood to rebels.
The amount of bananas needed to be produced requires a production area of 7,000 hectares.
MILF Vice Chairman Ghazali Jaafar already agreed to the project.
The production areas will be in conflict areas in Mindanao including Maguindanao, Lanao, North Cotabato, and Sarangani.
Pinol said his department will help organize the rebels in coming up with their own corporations. The Land Bank of the Philippines, likewise, will also help finance the operations once the rebels are organized in the project.
The rebels will also be trained in management, auditing, and accounting.
“We want them to run their own corporations,” he said. This project is expected to generate at least 14,000 jobs (production and ancillary) for formers and active rebels.
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