THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Davao Region established 11 shared service facilities (SSFs) worth P6.14 million this year.
According to the agency's Preliminary Annual Performance report, the SSFs established benefited 237 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and generated a total of 2,366 jobs throughout the region.
The SSF, a common service facilities or production centers to allow easy access to better technology and more sophisticated equipment, granted primarily to beneficiaries who are into banana, meat, coco coir, organic fertilizer, coffee processing, organic rice, bamboo craft, and handicrafts.
Four SSFs were established in Davao City, three each in Davao del Norte and Davao del Sur, and one in Compostela Valley.
Facilities established in Davao City include the P900,000 banana powder production facility of the Subasta ARB Agricultural Cooperative; P900,000 expansion of a banana powder processing facility of the Progressive Highland Multipurpose Cooperative; P80,000 facility for handicrafts of the Toril Kalambuan Association; and the P880,000 meat processing facility of the Davao City Federation of Backyard Livestock and Poultry Raisers Association, Inc.
The three SSFs that were established in Davao del Sur include the P485,000 coffee processing facility of the Jose Rizal Farmers Association in Sta. Cruz; the P965,000 coco coir, twining, and weaving processing facility of the Bulacan Coconut Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative in Malalag; and the P455,000 organic rice packaging equipment of the Magsaysay Organic Farmers Marketing Cooperative in Magsaysay.
Facilities established in Davao del Norte include the P200,000 organic fertilizer processing facility of the Womens Sunrise Multipurpose Cooperative in New Corella; P297,000 organic fertilizer processing facility of the Mesaoy del Pilar Farmers Irrigators Association in New Corella; and the P490,000 banana fiber processing project of the Marsman Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Multipurpose Cooperative in Sto. Tomas.
The P486,000 facility for bamboo craft of the Maco Municipal Federation of the Council of Women Inc. in Maco is the only SSF established in Compostela Valley.
The fund source for the 11 SSFs that were established this year came from the 2013 fund.
The SSF is one of the programs of the government for MSME development. It is aimed at enabling MSMEs to increase their productivity; accelerate their competitiveness through technology; encouraging them to graduate to the "next level" that will allow them to tap a better and wider market; and address the gap and bottlenecks in the value chain of priority clusters.