GRF Hublag to Support Oyster Farmers

When poverty meets the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing natural resource limitations, GRF-Hublag Microfinance Foundation, Inc., (GRF-Hublag) realized that its business-as-usual approach to development is no longer feasible. The pandemic that forced people into extended quarantines and lockdowns also triggered serious discussions within GRF Hublag leadership to explore more robust and flexible financial products that could help its clients ride out the pandemic and emerge with their economic well-being intact. Doing this, however, compels GRF Hublag to expand its horizon and consider the larger systems within which it operates, to understand product potentials while creating new sources of values through new financial products and business models.

To achieve the above, GRF Hublag enters into a partnership with Green Pact Trading and Consultancy Corporation (GreenPact) to conduct a Value Chain Analysis (VCA), initially on the oyster industry of Capiz. Oyster trading has always been one of the key livelihood activities of the coastal communities of Roxas City. The practices however have mostly been artisanal and opportunistic, missing out on the full potential of the industry due to the absence of more organized efforts and a deeper understanding of its value chain. The unpredictability of the industry makes oyster farmers or harvesters less bankable, further limiting growth and potentials.

The VCA intends to get a better understanding of all the activities involved in artisanal oyster harvesting and trading as well as the factors that either impede or enhance the sector’s productivity. It will identify key stakeholders in the whole supply chain, identifying potential points for cooperation to enhance efficiency and productivity. The VCA will identify opportunities for wealth creation, enhanced benefits, and values to oyster farmer-traders, as well as for increased competitiveness, growth, and efficiency of the industry. Finally, the VCA hopes to gain a better knowledge of the oyster habitats and what would it take to enhance them. Priority actions on how to protect these important habitats for sustained oyster production will form part of the recommendations of the analysis. (Image by Migs Reyes)