PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications, Inc.’s (Smart) social action arm, PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF) has partnered with Dalareich Polot of Ginto Chocolates to support small-holder cacao farmer cooperatives in Bohol that have been heavily affected by Super Typhoon Odette in 2021.
“Through our group’s business approach—Equip, Train, and Connect; we want to understand and help our farmers by introducing technology in aiding farming communities from all over the country. This is important for us because this will be a way to help increase our farmers’ income by looking for crops like cacao which has a very big market. We want to help make the Philippines internationally known for being a good source of cacao,” said Esther Santos, President of PLDT-Smart Foundation.
The monetary donation from the foundation would enable a sustainable approach to cacao rehabilitation and production by incorporating advanced farming technology and a series of hands-on workshops.
The farmers will undergo upskilling on cacao rejuvenation, integrated pest and disease management, and cacao harvesting, as well as on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and values formation. They will also be provided with the necessary tools and initial financial capital which would prepare them for the program.
New technologies will also be interwoven to help the cooperatives build their cacao inventory, monitoring, and traceability systems.
“We are eternally grateful and humbled because you have recognized our efforts to improve the livelihood of our farmers. Our main goal is to rehabilitate the “old” cacaos situated in everyone’s household backyards. The support of PSF for this program will help open up more opportunities for us here,” said Cecilia de Leon, President of Liboron Organic Farmers and Cacao Growers Association.
Huawei Technologies Co. has also signified its support through the donation of tablets to participating cooperatives that will further assist them in the program.
Driven by the PLDT group’s value of malasakit, PSF’s efforts are aligned with the entire group’s commitment to helping the Philippines attain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG), particularly UNSDG 1 which stands for no poverty and UNSDG 8, decent work and economic growth.