The PHILIA Story
Our clarion call...
CoViD 19 pandemic has disrupted the world’s health systems, the world’s economy, and the social fabric of different nations. A lot of businesses closed, even the big ones. Different forms of government and private sector assistance were provided across the globe just to ease the blow but one thing I noticed in them, they were not inclusive especially to the small ones.
A friend of mine approached me for advice on how their small farm can best recover from the effects of this pandemic and shared with me their business struggles. Their inability to compete as they are not technology equipped to sell their products online, less to no sales as there is no local market movement due to the imposed lockdowns and despite the fact that everyone were hit by this pandemic, some bigger businesses still buy their products very cheap, justifying that they will spend more just to move their goods. She feared they would lose their farm and the business which was passed down to them by her grandparents.
I felt her pain and as a farmer’s daughter myself, I can relate to how smallholder farmers and producers are on the disadvantage because of price manipulation by bigger businesses and other unfair trading practices.
My friend’s story is just one of the other stories shared to me on the different challenges smallholders face nowadays. I was compelled to do something, to protect an heirloom recipe, a business legacy, and the small farmland thus, PHILIA was born.
A note from Roma Padua, Founder of PHILIA