On February 25, 2024, TSPI was honored as an Outstanding Partner of the Local Government Unit (LGU) of San Manuel, Tarlac, during the town’s 115th Founding Anniversary celebration. TSPI’s support has helped mobilize farmer groups and strengthen their economic resilience. Five accredited farmer groups in San Manuel now supply white onions to Jollibee Foods Corporation, namely: Pagbiagan Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Ungab Association, Segundu Association, Marcos Association, and Tucop Association. This achievement marks a significant step toward making their agri-business ventures sustainable and market-driven.
Sixty-year-old Eulogio Cabiles has been a farmer in San Manuel, Tarlac, for 40 years. He has farmed rice, tobacco, and corn. In 2014, he received the National Gawad Saka Award as an Outstanding Corn Farmer from the Department of Agriculture.
In 2023, he attended TSPI´s Farmer Entrepreneurship Program. He is also president of the Pagbiagan Multi-Purpose Cooperative, which was awarded 2nd Outstanding Cooperative by the Provincial Government of Tarlac in January 2024. Cabiles attests to how TSPI linkage with Jollibee has helped improve the lives of members. ¨In the past, when we dealt with traders, they would drive the prices very low, without regard to the welfare of farmers. But since we have been supplying white onions to Jollibee, we have been treated fairly. They consider our cost of production and add twenty percent, regardless of the prevailing farmgate price, ¨ he said, in Tagalog. In fact, many farmer members have been able to renovate their bamboo houses to concrete ones and fund the education of their children. Some have even purchased their own motorcycles. ¨The farmers are very happy! ¨ Cabiles said