Garlic supply contract with Ilocos Sur farmers still under negotiation — Jollibee Foundation

Negotiations with Ilocos Sur farmers on a supply contract for garlic are in the early stages and will likely not bear fruit this year, a representative of Jollibee Foundation (JF) said Friday. "It (the agreement) has not yet been implemented... There will be no garlic and garlic products supply coming from Sinait... but we're under negotiations... it has not been finalized yet," according to a representative of JF, Jollibee Foods Corp.'s corporate social responsibility arm, who asked not to be named as she has not been assigned to speak on the matter. While clarifying a statement by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAR) on the supply contract with the Sinait Garlic Center of the North Producers Cooperative, Jollibee Foundation confirmed it is holding leadership training and entrepreneurial programs for the cooperative. "This has been running since 2008, and we have helped 500 farmers already," the JF representative said. On Thursday, the Department of Agriculture's BAR announced that the cooperative will supply Jollibee Foods and Splash Foods Corporation with garlic and garlic products starting June. According to the cooperative, it was slated to deliver 8 metric tons (MT) of peeled garlic to Jollibee Foods per month, and 4 MT of peeled garlic and 1.5 MT of powdered garlic to Splash Foods. — Danessa Rivera/VS, GMA News