MAGALANG, Pampanga – Corporate social responsibility and academic outreach found common, fertile ground with the toilers of the soil at the aptly dubbed: “Food Security: Agri-Innovation and Market Linkage” forum held at the Pampanga State Agricultural University here on July 2.
A joint undertaking of the Pampanga Business Circle, Xanadu Agri Products, Inc., and PSAU, the forum offered a “farm-to-table blueprint” covering innovation in agricultural inputs not only to increase yields but to enhance crop quality and promote direct linkages between farmers and enterprises for greater profitability among the farmers out of their higher productivity.
Welcoming the 100 farmer-members of cooperatives and associations across Pampanga to the forum were PSAU officials including university president Dr. Anita David, VP for planning and resource generation Dr. Al Muñoz, VP for research, innovation, extension and training Dr. Geraldine Sanchez, and Office of Extension and Training director Dr. Amalia Briones.
PBC fellowship director Felix Asuncion delivered the organization’s message and rationale for their part of the undertaking.
Xanadu Agri Products chairman and president Wellington Soong delivered an inspirational message tracing the beginning of the company and its growing impact to farm communities.
Featured in the agri-innovation part of the forum was the presentation of Xanadu Agri Products executive director Hazel Murphree on the current state of sufferance in the agriculture sector from soil degradation, climate change, rising input costs, declining production, and low palay-buying prices.
Against this backdrop, Murphree presented the company’s three-product Maxpower liquid fertilizer line F1 Growth Booster, F2 Blossom Booster, and F3 Yield Booster pitched as a “subok at abot-kayang pamalit” to conventional granular fertilizer.
Citing company field trial data as of June 2026, Murphree reported average yield increases of 720 kilograms per hectare for rice across 386 trials, 900 kg/ha for corn across 89 trials, 3.2 tons/ha for onions across 10 trials, and 14.5 tons/ha for sugarcane across 19 trials gains that translated into average income increases of P14,876 per hectare for rice, P17,000 for corn, and P168,650 for onions. In the best-documented cases, side-by-side trials against farmers’ existing practices showed income increases as high as P100,712 per hectare for rice, P113,255 for corn, and P377,057 for onions figures that, if replicated at scale, point to a way out of the poverty line for farmers and their families.
Meanwhile, Tao Foods Company product development support officer Ian Kristoffer Del Moro presented the company’s Hatao hybrid rice seed line, marketed under the Marilag, Cariña, and Deliciosa brands, that are 100% locally developed and licensed from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Central Luzon State University’s Center for Hybrid Rice Research, Innovation and Mechanization.
With seed production based in Davao Oriental and Nueva Ecija, Hatao hybrid rice is a homegrown answer to the country’s continuing dependence on imported agricultural technology, said Del Moro.
The market-linkage part of the forum was presented by PBC fellow Vickee Navallo Dela Cruz-Ong, co-founder and chief operating officer of Makimura Ramen Bar, a rapidly expanding restaurant chain in the Philippines known for providing affordable yet authentic Japanese cuisine.
A farmer-enterprise matching session concluded the forum.
Lending their presence at the forum were PBC senior fellow-mentor Rene Romero and executive director Joyce del Rosario, while fellows KG Magtoto and Michele Montemayor moderated the flow of the program. The forum was also attended by officers of different business chambers, leaders from various industries, and Pampanga-based media. Punto News Team/PBC
