A publicly listed firm that has adopted a “farm-to-plate” business model has launched an agri-tourism park in Rosario, Batangas province, with the aim of helping local farmers earn more while educating visitors on the different stages of food production.
AgriNurture Inc. (Ani) executive chair Antonio Tiu said Sunchamp Agri-Tourism Park offered an integrated approach toward environmentally sustainable agriculture.
“We’re part of an agricultural nation. We have so many resources. We are providing everything the world wants yet we’re one of the poorest countries,” Tiu said.
“I think corporations all over the world are starting to realize that survival, or the measurement of success, for a company does not rely on the numbers alone, but on how much you have contributed to humanity,” Tiu said in a statement.
Tuesday’s launch of the agri-tourism park was attended by Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agriculture Modernization Francis Pangilinan, who himself owns a farm, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes and other dignitaries.
Tiu said the agri-tourism park included a greenhouse where lettuce, bell pepper and tomato were grown; three separate farms for mango, mahogany and asparagus and an orchid farm.