Today at a ceremony at the trade fair Livestock Philippines, Global Food Partners (GFP) signed partnerships with the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) and Batangas Egg Producers Multipurpose Cooperative (BEPCO), a leading egg innovation co-operative in the Philippines. The partnerships aim to support the country’s egg farmers to adopt sustainable and profitable cage-free production practices.
Globally and across Asia, dozens of leading food and hospitality businesses have committed to only sourcing cage-free eggs, including in the Philippines. Some of these companies include Unilever, Nestle, Marriott International, and MetroMart. To meet this growing demand, more and more egg producers are seeking to adopt cage-free egg practices. GFP will partner with ATI and BEPCO to bring its expertise in cage-free egg production to farmers in the Philippines, in order to help them adopt sustainable and economically-viable cage-free practices.
GFP & ATI partnership
Through the partnership, GFP and ATI will provide and promote training to egg farmers seeking to take advantage of the growing cage-free opportunities in the Philippines and the region. The training, developed and led by GFP, aims to optimize egg production, flock health, and management practices.
Training includes an introduction to animal welfare and cage-free farming; rearing, monitoring bird health and behavior; biosecurity; disease prevention; and egg productivity. Through these training materials, GFP and ATI will equip farmers with an understanding of animal welfare and cage-free egg production to put the learnings and knowledge into their daily practices on farm.
The trainings will be conducted through GFP’s e-learning course “Cage-free Egg Production: The Basics”, and hosted on ATI’s learning platform (http://www.e-extension.gov.ph/elearning).
GFP & BEPCO partnership
As part of BEPCO’s “Back to Basics” and sustainability initiatives, GFP has partnered with BEPCO to respond to consumer demand and provide technical support for cage-free management and bird health and welfare. Through the partnership, GFP and BEPCO will engage with institutional egg buyers via a “buyer roundtable” to better understand how the Philippines layer industry can support the market for cage-free eggs.
Dawn Neo, Sr. Manager of Corporate Engagement for Global Food Partners, stated: “We are thrilled to partner with such distinguished institutions such as ATI and BEPCO to help advance cage-free production in the Philippines. Our mission is to help farmers implement best practices on farm, so that they can remain competitive and profitable as demand increases for cage-free eggs. We work across Asia to support egg producers, and we are excited to bring our expertise and learnings to the Philippines.”
Dr. Rosana Mula, Director IV for ATI stated: “We’re committed to supporting our farmers who are interested in adopting cage-free egg practices. Global Food Partners brings decades of experience working with producers to implement and optimise cage-free egg production, both across Asia and globally, and now we’re happy to collaborate with GFP here in the Philippines.”
Cecille Aldueza-Virtucio, Managing Director for BEPCO: “Egg Farmers in the Philippines are customer focused. Interest for cage-free farming is increasing as they see consumer demand increase. Through our partnership with GFP, we’ll be able to work with both buyers and farmers to evaluate needs and gaps and jointly develop solutions that benefit both sides of the supply chain.”