Mang Inasal empowers farmers through livelihood program

by Madge Resurreccion / November 8, 2022

Mang Inasal has made its mark as one of the go-to Pinoy restaurants for its savory, juicy, and deliciously char-grilled Chicken Inasal, but not many know the origins of this dish. The company revealed that the Chicken Inasal many Filipinos love comes directly from the farmers they support.

“Every Chicken Inasal order contributes to the livelihood of smallholder farmers under the Farmer Entrepreneurship Program (FEP) of the Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF),” said Mang Inasal Business Unit Head Mike V. Castro. “This is because FEP farmers supply fresh ginger, one of many natural ingredients used to make the marinade of our famous Chicken Inasal.”

FEP is an initiative that enables and empowers smallholder farmers with leadership skills, and systems needed to collectively market their produce to institutional buyers like Mang Inasal, resulting in increased and sustained income.

Farmers face many challenges in getting their crops to markets and suppliers. This drove Mang Inasal to directly purchase from the farmers. “By purchasing directly from farmers, Mang Inasal is able to support our farmers and uplift them, so they have more opportunities to earn and become entrepreneurs themselves,” Castro explained.

The group supplying ginger to Mang Inasal is the AGAP Farmers’ Association. It has 37 ginger farmers from three clusters who used to sell their vegetables on their own and struggled to find a stable market. 

With JGF and its partner Ahon sa Hirap Inc. (ASHI), farmers from Laguna and Rizal learned to work together as clusters and produce ginger that adheres to the quality standards set by an institutional market like Mang Inasal. In 2021, their first year as Mang Inasal suppliers, the farmers delivered 22% of the company’s requirements for the year. 

58-year-old AGAP farmer Vicente Bojawe shared his experience delivering to a huge market, “Noong una, malaking hamon sa amin ang magdeliver sa malaking market kasi maraming training at kulang kami sa experience. Sa tulong ng Jollibee Group Foundation at ASHI, nagkaroon kami ng guide at ngayon ay natupad na ang pangarap namin namakapag-deliver sa Mang Inasal (At first, it was a big challenge for us to deliver to big markets as we needed training and we lacked experience. Through Jollibee Group Foundation and ASHI, we received guidance and achieved our dream of delivering to Mang Inasal).”

While the country faces many agricultural challenges, consumers can also contribute to helping farmers by ordering their cravings at Mang Inasal in-store, take-out, or via their own mobile application and food delivery applications.

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