Joseph Calata: Introduces Soil Testing Facilities for Farmers

Recently, a moderate-sized company caught the eyes of many traders. This company is the newly listed distributor of agricultural products--Calata Corporation. The corporation is the 10-year-old company of the young Joseph Calata, its 31-year-old CEO. The corporation was out of the radar for years until it caught the eyes of traders because of its unique way of showcasing the company in the Philippine Stock Exchange through a fashion show.

The company started as a humble poultry feeds store owned by Joseph Calata's father, Eusebio Calata. After the young Calata graduated in 2001, he took over the company where it climbed slowly. He managed to computerize the sales and accounting of the company which helped their production be transparent and led to the success of the company. Earlier this year, their shares sky-rocketed making the company reach a market cap of P4B and was therefore entitled as the best performing Initial Public Offering in the stock exchange. With its current partnership with leading manufacturers such as Syngenta, B-Meg and Monsanto as well as other multinationals such as Bayer, Jardine, Dupont and Sonochem, the company also became the biggest distributor of agricultural products.

Recently, Joseph Calata announced his goal to help increase farm productivity and protect the environment at the same time. According to him, there were recent findings that the use of incompatible farm inputs, such as fertilizers, have resulted to bigger expenses and reduced harvests for farmers. This mistake could also lead to irreparable damages to the soil which will be a big problem for farmers if such a thing should happen.

That being said, Calata came to a solution by means of soil testing facilities. These facilities will help farmers determine what type of fertilizer and other farm inputs would fit the type of soil in their respective farms which will also help generate savings for farmers and raise their income potential through the right use of farm inputs. These facilities will be placed on all of Calata's stores and the best thing about it is that the service that corporation is offering will be free of charge which is a good news for farmers.

One can say that the Philippines is an agriculture-dependent country not only because one-third of the land is an agricultural area but also because most poor Filipinos, as well as those in the provinces, depend on agriculture to be able to fend for themselves. That being said, it is nice move for Calata to aid rice and corn farmers through these soil testing facilities because it does not only benefit them and the farmers but everyone else as we all depend on what our farms produces.