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Monday, July 25, 2005
La Trinidad coops get P50M agri aid
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- Two cooperative groups in the province are recipients of the Agriculture Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (Acef) of the government, acquiring P25 million each.
Sabado Walang, representing the La Trinidad Strawberry Multi-Purpose Cooperative (MPC), said in an interview over DZWT that it took them almost 10 years to wait for the approval of the loan.
He said that he learned of the Acef financial assistance being extended to farmers in a seminar on tariff payments of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) he attended sometime in 1996.
Walang's group presented a proposal in 1997 on strawberry and vegetable production, which was still during the administration of then President Fidel Ramos. This was again revised in 1999-2000. They followed it up midyear 2004 before the national elections. It was finally approved February 17, 2005 with initial release of P7.5 million in May.
Walang said components of the loan package are construction of 72 units of greenhouses, three units of nurseries, marketing facilities, which include the construction of building with packaging facilities, transportation facility, water system and delivery van.
He said their cooperative has 102 members from Central Puguis, Longlong Proper and Timoy. He added that members were clustered in the western part of La Trinidad in order to see the impact of the project.
He said the area of production has an aggregate of 40 hectares and should the project prosper, their group plans to include other farmers.
Brookspoint Multipurpose Cooperative president Victor Inso, who is also a recipient of the P25 million Acef, said their group who are into cutflower and vegetable production is aspiring to pioneer transfer of technology to the farmers in the province and the region as well.
To be released in three tranches, the next release will follow upon accomplishing 80 percent of the program of work of the released amount.
Inso said that since the establishment of their cooperative, which has now a total of 218 members, the Land Bank of the Philippines as well as the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), had been extending financial assistance.
Components of the loan package include 70 units of greenhouses distributed in five municipalities, three nurseries, building as collection and distribution center, one unit soil analysis laboratory, one unit cooler van, and a jeepney as transportation facility.
Sharing his experience in observing operations of private companies, Inso said the nursery component is their main activity.
He added that: "Construction of nursery is an important component of the project in order to sustain agricultural production. There should be a continuous seedling production to be assured of what to produce in the following planting season. The presence of nurseries, which is being shelved by farmers, is a plus factor in negotiating marketing especially for high-end markets."
He said they were able to identify the needs of farmers like oversupply and undersupply of production attributed to unorganized group of farmers, non-identification of production of certain commodity including lack of funding. He added that the problems were integrated in the feasibility study that their cooperative drafted.
Inso revealed that Acef requirements were rigid as there were many farmers who applied for agriculture funding but failed. He advised other farmers to look into their track record, which will speak for them in order to avail of assistance.
"This is one of the things that we should take care of as this is only our hope," he said.
Another attitude to develop is to have patience, as time will come that you will reap the fruits of labor, he said.
Inso said there is no problem in market outlets because the market is there, but the problem is pricing which goes back to the farmers themselves saying: "If only they are organized and crop production is practiced."
He said they would be tapping agencies to assist them in implementing their project and towards realizing their goal for their cooperative, which they could soon share not only in the province but the region as well.
(July 25, 2005 issue)
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