In photo show young CEO and philanthropist Aileen Choi Go and a fruit-bearing breadfruit downloaded from the website of Pacific Community website.
At 6 a.m. today, I will join a young Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a hygienic products corporation who is also an Agriculture and Food Security Advocate in establishing what could be the first Breadfruit Orchard in Northern Mindanao.
Aileen Choi Go, whose family owns the Mega Soft Hygienic Products, will plant about 400 grafted Breadfruit seedlings in a 2-hectare property which her company owns in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental.
I had to take a 7-hour land trip from Kidapawan City just to plant a few seedlings of the Breadfruit which I was able to source from nursery operators in my home province of North Cotabato.
It is my way of showing Aileen Choi Go of my support and appreciation for her efforts to contribute to environmental protection and food production in the country.
The Breadfruit (sn: Artocarpus altilis) is known as the Super Food because its seedless fruits, as the name suggests, taste like bread and could be processed into flour.
When Aileen read a post I made of my visit to the home of Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrad Estrella III where we discussed the potentials of the Breadfruit in producing granulated flour like Sharatake, she immediately sought my help in looking for planting materials.
She told me she wanted to establish an orchard in El Salvador City where one of the two facilities of Mega Soft Hygienic Products Corp. which manufactures Hygienic Products for women under the brand name Sisters and Lampein pampers for babies and also for adults.
(The company also produces detergents and soap.)
Aileen, who is one of the prime movers behind the Philippine Wagyu Production Program is deeply involved in agriculture and environmental programs.
The El Salvador Breadfruit Orchard could also be the source of scions needed to propagate more Breadfruit or “Kolo” (sn: Artocarpus altilis) which had been tagged as a Super Food because of its nutritiounal values when cooked as vegetables, fried chips and even flour.
The Breadfruit Flour is also being marked as the primary material in the production of the granulated “Fortified Super Rice” to boost the country’s food supplies while providing environmental protection.
Young food security advocates like Aileen should be supported and appreciated for this trailblazing initiative to show to the whole country that we could produce food while protecting the environment at the same time.
This is how private corporations could contribute to the country’s Food Security.
