BEPCO is an agricultural cooperative registered under CDA on September 30, 2010 with principal office based in San Jose, Batangas. It is composed of egg farmers operating small to commercial scale layer farms who pooled their resources together to commit to the modernization and upliftment of the egg industry in Batangas. The membership has grown from 25 cooperators to 56 members.
Together with Department of Agriculture, BEPCO has established the Liquid Egg Processing Plant in 2012 to be able to cater to the requirements of institutional buyers. The cooperative was struggling during the first few years of operations because there are resources and product development that were needed to match the egg products imported by the Filipino food manufacturers. Fortunately, the cooperative has found its first client who has been a loyal patron of the cooperative for almost a decade now. The cooperative has also been assisted by its marketing partner to promote the pasteurized eggs in hotels, restaurants and catering industry. In addition, the cooperative strengthened its innovation and compliance to access more market. The BEPCO Egg Processing Plant is now an FDA licensed, USAPHC accredited, Halal certified, and FSSC 22000 v5.1 compliant facility.
BEPCO through its initiatives on Innovation towards Sustainability and Food Security and Closed Loop Poultry Farming, expanded its assistance to layer farmers for value addition of their produce and to other farmers cultivating crops for livestock inputs and those producing food. The cooperative is the egg innovation hub and produces pasteurized eggs both in chilled and frozen packaging formats, ready-to-eat eggs and dried egg products. Together with Department of Science and Technology and University of the Philippines, BEPCO is on its way to extend shelf life of its existing products, commercialize dried eggs and continuously develop high value products.
BEPCO has also completed its project on Automated Composting Facility with intent to fully compost the farm waste chicken manure to be an organic soil ameliorant. The chicken manure of layer chicken has the highest nitrogen content among the animal manure and an agri-input for conventional and organic crop farming. The project also includes a shared service laboratory that can analyze the chemical and microbial content of the soil and fertilizer. The cooperative believes that farming is both business and science to make agriculture sustainable and progressive.
Nourishing Families Today is the cooperative’s social goal by bringing nutritious eggs to Filipinos through innovation. The cooperative is participating in feeding programs initiated by non-government organizations/ foundations during relief or community operations and supply of fresh eggs to school-based feeding programs. Recently, the cooperative launched #LodiangItlog (#EggsareSuperb) to promote the nutrition and functionality of value of eggs. This campaign aims to fight protein malnutrition in the Philippines. The #LodiAngItlog is composed of members of the private egg sectors and various agri-organizations that help for the health and food security of the country. This includes support from the National Government, local government units and the IATF on Zero Hunger. The campaign aims to strengthen the egg diet of the entire nation as Egg is a Solution to a Healthier Philippines. Adding eggs to the family’s dining table will help to achieve a healthy Philippines.
On sustainability. Through the leadership of BEPCO, the egg industry drafted a Philippine Egg Roadmap 365 that aims to make eggs as part of the daily life of the Filipinos. The roadmap proposes to boost the industry, to convert challenges into opportunities, and to be resilient that welcomes disruption. The five pillars of the Egg Roadmap includes the following: customers and industry value, growing sustainably, unlocking innovation, capable people and vibrant communities and capital and risk management. As part of BEPCO’s 6th year of celebrating World Egg Day, the cooperative will present its execution plan of the Egg Roadmap at enterprise level. As an industry representative, BEPCO is a member of the Philippine Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Council and an accredited Civil Society Organization of the Department of Agriculture.
Winning Together. This is the mission of BEPCO – to have win-win-win solutions to be an environmentally sound, socially responsible and economically viable agritech industry for the benefit of its stakeholders. BEPCO has been working on its Egg-cosystem business model of public-private partnerships in the value chain from inputs to market with foundation on education, sustainability and innovation. The cooperative has two priorities: innovation and stakeholder management. The cooperative believes in the leadership of its top management, the support of its members, the dedication of its employees, the trust of its customers, the reliability of its suppliers, the assistance of the government and national agencies, the collaboration with other cooperatives, and the cooperation of its community. The cooperative has been awarded as an Outstanding Community Enterprise of Villar Sipag Awards, BPI Sinag Spark Top Five Enterprise Awardee and Regional Winner of DOLE National Productivity Olympics. With all these collaborations, BEPCO is heading towards the realization of its vision: Unifying the agri-tech industry to meet the global needs to nourish families and consumers.
