A symbol of her love for family and agriculture:
JEPS NORTHLAND FARM
“I believe that my story was planned. I believe that my story was already written.”
Starting young
Jecerlene P. Sabio’s passion for agriculture began from her family of farmers. She still remembers how her whole family was having fun in their farm, feeling blissful, enjoying the fields, jumping in the newly threshed rice leaves, climbing guava trees, playing, and catching fish in their pond.
She graduated from the University of the Philippines Los Baños with a degree in Agribusiness Management. After college, Sabio established a dragon fruit area in their farm. But because her father wanted her to gain more experience, she started working in Manila as a management trainee, supply chain head assistant, and corporate secretary for almost two years.
A true agripreneur at heart
More determined to pursue agriculture, Sabio returned to her hometown in Angadanan, Isabela and established JEPS Northland Farm, a registered sole proprietorship under her name, with the help of her sibling in 2016. JEPS stands for Jesus Enelia Pacios Sabio—the combined names of her parents as this is her gift to them.
Running a business is not easy. She failed several times and experienced rejections as no one believed in her. She also experienced lack of sleep while running the business and working in a part-time job. Having been taught to do things not because of favors but of purpose, she was able to overcome the challenges.
Through the Young Farmers Challenge Fund (YFCF) Program, she was able to make her project work, promote cooperation in their community, and improve the agriculture sector not only in the region but in the whole country. She was hailed as one of the Regional Level awardees to represent the Cagayan Valley Region. All the learnings, past experiences, rejections, and sleepless nights paid off.
A heart full of blessings
JEPS Northland Farm is now creating opportunities for every farmer in the community. The business is engaged in producing its own feed formulation for growing chickens and selling it to backyard raisers. She hires two contract growers for the upgraded native chicken, one for feed production, two for the dressing of chickens, three online marketers, and one administrator.
Her enterprise is generating an average monthly sales of Php 25,000 for the growing period of chicken, while she gets an average income of Php 35,000 from her feeds. These figures are mainly from her initial production and is expected to triple by next year as she will start to operate at her full capacity. Her main market for chickens are Manila and the other urban areas in the region. She also targets the poultry and swine producers in their nearby areas for her feeds.
Indeed, all dreams will come true in God’s perfect timing. As the Bible verse goes in Isaiah 60:22, “When the time is right, I the Lord, will make it happen.” One only needs to be patient, responsible, and do everything with love. ###
