Passion project: The Consunjis’ P4-B bet on Zamboanga soil

When people think of the Consunji empire, monolithic industries immediately come to mind: towering property developments, big construction sites and heavy coal mining operations.

Yet, far from the concrete jungles and extraction sites, the clan has spent decades quietly cultivating a foothold in a sector that many local conglomerates won’t touch with a 10-foot pole: agriculture.

It is a long-game venture that boosts countryside job creation, hidden in plain sight.

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When DMCI Holdings went public in 1995, underwriters advised the family to exclude their agricultural assets. They had done exactly that—but nonetheless steadily doubled down on the soil over the decades.

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Today, one of the crown jewels of this private portfolio is Sirawai Palm and Rubber Corp. (SPRC).

Deep within the highlands of Zamboanga del Norte, the company manages 40,000 hectares of rugged agro-forestry terrain across Barangay Guban in the municipality of Sirawai. Reaching this sprawling outpost requires a two-hour predawn drive from Zamboanga City to beat the daytime gridlock.

SPRC has become the largest integrated palm oil farming and milling company in the country, transforming a mountainscape once plagued by rebellion and deforestation.

For many years, SPRC was losing money, recalls SPRC director Isidro Consunji, who estimates that the family has invested about P4 billion in this venture.

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Staff members describe this venture as a “passion project” meant to boost household income in rural Zamboanga.

Consunji’s late brother Victor was the one who started the project right after college.

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It had been a logging area, until lumber prices crashed.

The Consunjis also decided to switch to agriculture amid sustainability considerations. They initially planted mangoes, but the lengthy travel time to the city center—which used to take four hours—didn’t make it viable.

Then came rubber, followed by oil palm. As neighboring logging areas ran out of timber, they were able to expand their domain to the maximum size of 40,000 hectares.

The area is covered by an Integrated Forest Management Agreement (Ifma), a production-sharing deal with the government. It gives SPRC the right to develop, manage, protect and utilize the forest land and resources.

Under the Ifma, which needs to be renewed beyond 2027, only 10 percent of the land can be used for farming, while the remaining 90 percent is a mandatory area for reforestation.

“Lugi iyan (it had been loss-making) for a long time,” Consunji says, “until the last two to three years, when it finally achieved economies of scale.”

Now, the company is led by his sister, Luz Consuelo Consunji.

He is also ecstatic that two of his nephews have taken an interest in agriculture. Siddhartha Consunji Reyes is now chief operating officer of SPRC, while Kwun Yurn Consunji Lock serves as assistant vice president for technical services.

Corporate farming

SPRC has about 600,000 productive oil palm trees and employs more than 500 people. Each month, it can produce 1,000 metric tons (MT) of crude palm oil.

“We import the seeds from Costa Rica, take care of them in the nursery and start planting after one year. Then, growing or gestation is around three to four years. After the first harvest, productive life of the tree is up to 25 to 30 years,” John Paul Santos, SPRC sales and marketing manager, tells visiting journalists.

“One tree will give you at least one fruit per month,” he adds.

They planted the first batch of oil palm in 2013, covering 500 hectares. In 2015, the oil mill was commissioned.

After harvesting, the palm fruits are brought to the mill, which can produce 30 MT of crude palm oil per hour and expandable to 60 MT. The first shipment of crude palm oil was made in 2017.

SPRC has built up a storage capacity of around 3,000 tons right beside its own port, making it easier to ship out its products. Buyers are mostly refiners, like D&L Industries.

Crude palm oil is used to produce cooking oil, soap, margarine and biodiesel, among others. It is pitched as a substitute for coconut oil.

“We’re here to complement what the coconut industry cannot fill. Right now, the country is importing around 92 percent of palm oil consumption in the Philippines. So that’s around 1.1 million tons per year. We’re only producing around 100,000 tons (a year),” Santos says.

SPRC also produces crude palm kernel oil, which is used for cosmetics and pharmaceutical products. Another byproduct is palm kernel cake, which is used in animal feeds. These byproducts, however, account for just 1 percent of the group’s palm oil operations.

On the other hand, the rubber plantation has about 540,000 productive trees and employs more than 350 “tappers”—workers who wound the trees to extract latex—reminiscent of how maple syrup is collected.

The planting of rubber trees started in 1989, way ahead of palm oil farming. SPRC started crumb rubber production in 2000.

In 2020, the year when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, SPRC commissioned a new rubber plant. The processing plant produces 200 MT of rubber products per month, mostly used to manufacture tires, vehicle parts, tennis balls and slippers.

Community impact

The multiplier effect of this “passion project” has cascaded to the host community.

Across the domain, SPRC has built a road network of about 400 kilometers—equivalent to the distance between Metro Manila and Ilocos Norte. The road access includes 12 steel bridges and 31 speedways.

SPRC currently employs a total of 1,500 people, 70 percent of whom come from the neighboring areas. The annual payroll is about P300 million, says Santos.

“We’ve already constructed at least 1,650 housing units for both the employees and all of their families. Then we have eight school buildings in the area—a mix of elementary and high school. And then we’ve built 15 chapels,” he says.

Aside from its own plantation, SPRC has supported farmers who wish to cultivate oil palm as well.

“We’re inviting outgrowers to get the community involved, so that as we grow, even the neighboring communities grow with us,” Santos says.

SPRC buys any amount harvested by the contract growers, as long as they are within its quality standards.

“We’ve been doing this for five years. Many have joined and we’ve also included our Muslim brothers,” he says.

“Moving forward, the thrust is to expand the network of external growers,” he says.

Gross yield from oil palm farming is about P180,000 per hectare per year, while net yield is about P60,000 per hectare per year for SPRC. Outgrowers earn more, since they have lower overhead costs, Consunji says.

“For outgrowers, once you start earning from palm, they say you forget about the other crops because it’s perennial,” Santos explains.

This means that oil palm trees have the ability to regrow after harvest; no need to replant again and again. Meanwhile, there’s no need to irrigate because of sufficient rainfall in the area.

For an empire built on concrete and steel, the Consunji family’s long game is also being played out in the countryside.

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By turning a denuded conflict zone into a thriving agro-forestry hub, they have shown that true vertical integration isn’t just about building up—it’s about rooting down. INQ