The Philippines’s biggest agriculture companies and organizations are coming together to prepare for the country’s hosting of the ASEAN in 2026 and explore how it can create collaborative partnerships with their counterparts in the region.
In a meeting organized last April 8, 2025 by Go Negosyo founder and ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC) Philippines chair Joey Concepcion, the leaders of the agriculture “big-brother” companies and organizations met with National Irrigation Administration (NIA) head Engr. Eddie Guillen to explore how landholdings under the NIA can be put to productive agricultural use with the help of private sector. The meeting follows initial talks between the NIA and Go Negosyo.
“We need our ASEAN big brothers to join forces with us, and the chairmanship next year will be a good time to start regional partnerships,” said Concepcion. The Philippines will be hosting the ASEAN in 2026; at the same time, the chairmanship of the private sector-led ASEAN BAC will be with the Philippines.
He added that the group should take advantage of the potential of the AFSA, or ASEAN Food Security Alliance, which can be amplified as more regional agriculture companies participate in cooperative efforts to ensure agricultural productivity and food security for the region. AFSA will be one of the legacy projects of the ASEAN BAC Philippines during its chairmanship in 2026. Its previous legacy project from its 2017 hosting, the ASEAN Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network, has produced hundreds of graduates and a network of entrepreneurship mentors in ASEAN.
The AFSA, he said, will be instrumental in building collaborative agriculture projects across the region. “It will send a strong message that private sector is committed to scaling up the small farmers.”
The arrangement with NIA is seen to boost agriculture production as more than a million hectares in NIA landholdings can be used for growing different types of crops. Engr. Guillen said that private sector should provide the agricultural technology and a ready market for the crops, while the NIA can organize the farmers under its irrigators associations and make available its AI-powered weather forecasting technology.
Such partnerships can give partner farmers under NIA income from profit-sharing arrangements and integrate the farmers into the private sector operations, giving them access to private sector systems such as product marketing and distribution.
The group had earlier met with the Department of Agrarian Reform to explore land-lease arrangements that will also put to productive agriculture use the government lands under the agency through corporative farming, cooperative farming, or land-lease arrangements.
Concepcion said that the partnerships with government agencies mobilize private sector and government to bring the country closer to food security and farm productivity as farmers are supported with access to capital, knowledge, and markets.
