PH CDA, Please Help Grow Farmer Cooperatives Into Fruitful Teams!

In 2014, I was one of the consultants in the team of UPLB professor Rene Rafael C Espino, for the Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity & Economic Support Services (ARCCESS) extension project of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), and we visited coops of farmers in La Union and Pangasinan (see my essay, 30 March 2014, “The Business Of What If? A Missing Tooth, Amazing Plan,[1]” Frank A Hilario). We noted that the agrarian farmers were not even optimizing the equipment acquired through the DAR, even if their associations were supposed to be working as cooperatives.

Here comes the news, “Many Farmers’ Coops Turn Inactive Due To Lack Of Managerial Skills – Study[2]” by Karl R Ocampo (11 December 2020, Business.inquirer.net) about the DAR’s Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations (ARBOs). There was a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) titled “The Role of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) in Agriculture Value Chain,” and the conclusion was that “many (ARBOs) eventually become inactive from the lack of management and organizational skills among members.” So, ARCCESS had not been successful.

In fact, from personal observation, I know that neglecting to take good advantage of their grouping, not only agrarian but also non-agrarian farmers have failed. The culture of advantageous credit as a result of cooperation among farmers is not yet there – the cash-ready but usurious mentality called “Five-Six” continues to persist – farmers borrow P5 and pay back P6 within 4 months.

Mr Ocampo says the results of the PIDS study indicated that, “The failure of many farmers’ organizations and cooperatives to sustain a viable operation from the lack of skills and training has repelled several Filipino producers to either join or form such groups.” In that case, since the ARBOs are under the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), this is a management concern of the CDA.

The PIDS study said, “The finding, if not addressed, could be a major impediment to the government’s plan to consolidate farms as a means to increase productivity and incomes, especially as billions of pesos are expected to be poured into consolidation programs.”

“To address these gaps, the (PIDS study) recommended that capacity building among groups must be targeted to achieve two results – the provision of shares among farmer-members and the transformation of cooperatives into enterprises.” About cooperatives transformed into enterprises, not so fast! The coops must first be strengthened according to CDA rules.

“PIDS underscored that farmers must organize themselves into sustainable enterprises to have greater participation in the trade of more sophisticated products, not just in rice and corn, but in abaca, rubber, and coconut as well where they could rake in higher incomes.” Good!

I have twice been a member of the Board of Directors of the Nagkaisa Multi-Purpose Cooperative, the only legitimate farmer coop in my hometown Asingan in Pangasinan:
(above, lower image, my photograph of Nagkaisa coop farmers meeting)

And so I know that PH coops need much enterprise handholding. I hope that the CDA will soon wake up to this fact and do something managerially helpful!@LIBs


[1]http://frankahilario.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-business-of-what-if-missing-tooth.html

[2]https://business.inquirer.net/313684/many-farmers-coops-turn-inactive-due-to-lack-of-managerial-skills-study?fbclid=IwAR01uP2G2shSRd_MiMBHIIQutDbDN_psTo9wckMcZrcYKRpIGhR9CtAflTM

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