Planting seeds, harvesting progress
Julius Sulit, Country Finance Head for East-West Seed Philippines (EWPH) and, Irene Sion, Seed Production Operations Manager East-West Seed (EWS) is a global seed company that develops, produces, and markets hybrid tropical vegetable seeds to some 20 million smallholder farmers worldwide. Founded in 1982 in Lipa City, Batangas, Dutch seedsman Simon Groot and Filipino seed trader Benito Domingo had the vision to improve the income of smallholder farmers in the tropics through their high-quality seeds. But just like a seed that began seeking fertile ground to thrive in, EWS struggled at first to gain the confidence of the Filipino farmers. Irene Sion, Seed Production Operations Manager, first began her career in EWS as a seed production technician in 1984. She said that the company’s office in the Philippines spent years not only researching, developing, and producing hybrid seeds but also had to gradually convince Filipino farmers to switch to using hybrid seeds. “As a farmer...