Summary
"They want to look you in the eyes and make sure, 'Hey you're not gonna come in here, rob and steal us blind, you really are interested in people,' " says [Jim Love], Abundant's vice president of operations. "Once you're a datu you have a lot of responsibility.
"In our case, the deal was, "We'll help you, we'll buy the seeds, teach you how to grow it, do it on your land, we'll take 80 percent, and it's your choice what you want to do with your 20.' " The proposition was so well received, according to [Allan Abbott], that they ended up with agreements "that would take [Abundant] a lifetime to plant out."Abundant Biofuels' "guy on the ground" in Asia is [Rene]' [Lacsina], a Filipino immigrant who has worked ag science in Salinas since 1989 and serves as Abundant Biofuels' head agronomist. The connections he forged while working as an international agribusiness consultant have led to extensive land pacts with the government, private property owners and tribal elders on the island of Mindanao.See the full content of this document
Extract
Fueled Differently
Earlier this year, two local biofuel entrepreneurs participated in an elaborate ceremony with a tribe of native Filipinos in which they had the honor of receiving a sword, sharing a roasted cow at a 100-foot table, and eating nearly hatched ducks directly from their shells. For Mindanao's Su...
See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
