RESTAURANT menus that give an option between white rice, garlic rice, or brown rice is something that the Mindanao Agri Network Corp. (MANCOR) dreams of. “We’re hoping that in a restaurant in the future, and if we position properly, they start offering white rice, garlic rice or brown rice,” Carlo C. Lorenzana, vice-president of MANCOR, which produces the Sun Made rice brand, said in an interview. Mr. Lorenzana said they have already made strides in marketing brown rice, with the product now carried by major supermarkets and retail shops. “We market it (Sun Made) as a product of Mindanao and it is growing and it is now in major market nationwide such as Rustans, Robinsons, SM, Landers, and also in some specialty stores in the city. We’ve been very aggressive in promoting it,” Mr. Lorenzana said. MANCOR, through its assisted farm program, buys the rice from around 60 farmers in Davao City. “Through the said program, we teach the farmers to grow rice organically and we purchase it from them at a premium, higher than the market price. The farmers are assured that whatever they produce, we bring it to the market,” Mr. Lorenzana said. — Maya M. Padillo

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