Key palm oil producer all set to expand in Basilan
ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat (MindaNews / 19 January) — Kenram Palmoil Industries, Inc. (KPII), the country’s major crude palm oil producer with a manufacturing plant here, is all set to expand to Basilan, a province once notorious for the nefarious activities of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), company executives said.
Alfredo Montecillo, Kenram CEO and president, said they are looking to develop at least 12,000 hectares of oil palm plantations in different parts of Basilan and a production plant to process crude palm oil.
Oil palm is the plant that produces edible palm oil used for frying and as ingredients for processed food and personal care products such as soap, shampoo and lotion.
Montecillo noted they have brought in foreign consultants to Basilan over the last year to study the climate, soil and rainfall, elements that are vital to determine whether an area is suitable for oil palm plantation.
“We have actually been looking over the years for possible expansion of our operations. We have gone to almost all over Mindanao, looking for potential areas. When Basilan was introduced to us, we readily became interested because actually the oil palm industry in the Philippines started in Basilan,” he said.
“The first planting of oil palm was done in Basilan, although it did not push through. It started in the early ’60s,” he added.
Montecillo revealed their plans during the BARMM Investment and Trade Forum last January 13-14 in Cotabato City, which was initiated under the European Union-funded BAEP-CRESCENT.
BAEP-CRESCENT stands for the Bangsamoro Agri-Enterprise Program – Creating REsponsible Sustainable Competitive ENTerprises, a project implemented by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.
Montecillo said their venture, also made possible with the help of the BAEP-CRESCENT project, will be in partnership with cooperatives formed by Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs).
Parent company Kenram Philippines, Inc. started its oil palm plantation venture in Sultan Kudarat province in 1967 when it converted its kenaf and ramie plantations. Oil palm plantations eventually expanded to nearby Maguindanao and South Cotabato provinces with the presence of the company.
Engr. Rose Ann Nabor, KPII business development and field operations manager, said the expansion project in Basilan, which was conceptualized in 2024, will involve leasing the lands of ARBs or cooperatives for 25 years.
She said the company is also looking to roll out their outgrowership program with private landowners in Basilan where, according to her, KPII also “wants to forge a sustainable future.”
“We look at the Basilan project as an opportunity for growth. It is designed to be a powerful engine for economic transformation, directly addressing the need for sustainable employment,” she said in her presentation.
Out of the company’s 12,000-hectare target, Nabor noted that they are eyeing an initial area of 6,000 hectares to support a 30 metric ton capacity crude palm oil mill.
She said they are targeting the towns of Lamitan, Sumisip, Maluso, Tipo-Tipo and Ungkaya Pukan, and Isabela City, among others, where the oil palm plantations would rise.
Nabor noted they are looking to start the construction of the palm oil plant in 2029, as oil palm trees begin to bear fruits in three to four years.
Basilan gained notoriety in the 1990s to early 2000s with the kidnapping activities of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) victimizing local residents and foreigners, several of them beheaded.
The ASG, which had been linked to Al-Qaeda, was classified by the United States government as a foreign terrorist organization.
In June last year, the national and provincial governments declared Basilan “free from the influence and presence of ASG,” following decades of military operations, multi-stakeholder cooperation and peacebuilding initiatives, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Unity and Reconciliation reported. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
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