A Heart Set to Serve: The Story of Milis Agri Products

Posted on November 9, 2021

Agusan del Sur in Northeastern Mindanao is known as the rice granary and food basket of Caraga Region. Sharing the largest number of farms in Caraga Region, Agusan del Sur cultivates rice, corn, oil palm, cacao, and banana, among others.

Because of years of experience tilling their land, farmers who are skilled in growing their crops, particularly in the municipalities of Trento and Santa Josefa, are also adept in tending calamansi. One of the communities in Santa Josefa that consistently harvests and delivers calamansi can be found in Brgy. Patrocinio, a neighborhood that is composed of 95% of rice and corn farmers that also grow calamansi.

However, due to low demand, an oversupply of citrus often takes place; therefore, the risk of spoiling calamansi is sky-high.

Emily Macalatas, a client of CARD MRI RIZAL BANK (CARD RBI) in Brgy. Patrocinio, saw the problem and immediately took action. Because of her heart for her farmer-neighbors, she thought of helping them by developing a small processing plant where she can store the calamansi and produce fruit juices and calamansi concentrate out of them.

From this idea, Milis Agri Products debuted to the market on August 30, 2018 with a permit from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). For the first three months, her calamansi processing took place inside her kitchen where manual production of the fruit juices and concentrate occurred. After four months, she finally developed a small processing plant, where Emily and her children create bottles of their products from Monday to Saturday.

Because Emily wants her products to be proven safe and effective as well as credible to be manufactured and marketed to the general public, she also sought an approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and made sure her products are halal or permitted for Muslims.

Expansion and development

There is no doubt that Milis Agri Products has the potential of serving more consumers as time goes by. To grow her business, Emily sought the assistance of government agencies like the Department of Science and Technology to help her acquire equipment for her processing plant. Aside from this, she also reached out to CARD RBI where she has been a client since 2010.

CARD RBI is a microfinance-oriented rural bank with a mission to eradicate poverty in the Philippines by providing equal access to financial products and services to the marginalized families in the country. With its loan products catering to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), CARD RBI provides working capital, investment, and agricultural loans to SMEs like Milis Agri Products.

On September 2021, Emily loaned PhP 50,000 as an additional capital for purchasing calamansi from farmers at CARD RBI. Because of her hard work, Emily and her children can now produce 500 bottles of 1,000 ml. calamansi juices in a week. Her family was also able to expand her line of products and manufacture juices in different flavors like malunggay, camote tops, ginger, lemon grass, and garlic.

Emily’s products are also now widely available in Visayas and Mindanao through the Women OTOPreneur (One Town One Product) Trade Fair that can be found inside reputable malls in the island.

Competence and success

Because of Emily’s desire to help the farmers in Brgy. Patrocinio, as well as her continuous efforts to serve other people by developing her line of products, DTI recognized Emily as one of the “Successful Women Entrepreneur in Agusan del Sur” on March 31, 2021.

Now, Emily is looking forward to catering to more people through Mga Likha ni Inay (MLNI), a retail chain store based in San Pablo City, Laguna, which develops, manufactures, promotes, and markets the products of CARD MRI’s clients all over the Philippines. After their negotiations in September 2021, Emily was able to deliver her products in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato on October 19, 2021.

As her goal of creating a source of income for her fellow farmers comes to fruition, Emily finds fulfillment in bettering her service to people through her job. According to Emily, “This is my only thought. I want to help other people through Milis Agri Products.”

To know more about CARD RBI and its products and services for SMEs, visit their website at www.cardmri.com/rbi or leave a message on their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/CMRBofficial.