RCDC Chair, Atty. Sid LicoA paper presented during the Luzonwide TEAMshop

At Hotel Consuelo, Libgayen, Pangasinan< April 2011

In her keynote Speech during the 4th Maindanao held in Cagayan de Oro on March 10, 2008 with some 4,700 cooperators in attendance, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has mandated CDA for the cooperatives in Mindanao to go into bulk buying, bulk marketing and bulk transporting so “as to mitigate the adverse impact of skyrocketing prices particularly that of farm inputs.”

The RCDC-10 deemed it imperative to initiate such mandate to provide fertilizer to farmers that are significantly lower than commercially sold fertilizer as bulk buying would do away with the several layers of middle men before reaching the end users.

Suddenly, it has dawned upon us that cooperatives should have indeed been in the forefront of such venture as its very essence, being tax ad import duty exempt, has not in fact been exercised so as to dismantle cartels and monopolies in a highly skewed societal set-up. We can do no less but to prove ourselves equal to the task.

In order to commence Fertilizer Bulk Business, there is a need to secure a Domestic Letter of Credit from Land Bank. This was the subject of RCDC’s Resolution requesting Land Bank for such issuance.

The task of bulk buying will be difficult without the organizational structure, systems and the funds to bring it to fruition. It has therefore become imperative to form a federation as the vehicle to forge an alliance among the cooperative of Mindanao as they pool in their resources together to carry out such herculean task that aims to erase the different layers of marketing. Headed by no less than our very own RCDC Chair, Atty. Sid Lico, the task at hand now is to formally organize the Federation, whose members are those who are willing to put in the much needed capital so as to be issued Letter of Credit needed to ship fertilizers from abroad.

While we are positioning to import chemical fertilizer as to mitigate the impact of soaring prices of farm inputs which will result in increases in food prices, we believe that such dependency will be inimical to food and ecological security as the critical resource base is increasingly subjected to toxic chemicals.

The only remedy then is to capacitate our agricultural cooperatives to have some control over the mode of production by following appropriate technologies that trust in the inherent processes of nature. Such has become a very viable option as we have cooperatives in the region already accredited internationally to manufacture organic fertilizer. Too, we take pride in having in our midst communities which are in solid waste management, a good source of biodegradable materials as inputs to organic fertilizer manufacturing.

After that meeting with stakeholders and advocates of sustainable agriculture held recently at SEARSOLIN, it was decided to call again another convergence in the form of a workshop where technologies will be shared among agricultural cooperatives to go into manufacturing of organic fertilizers and even organic pesticides.

Cooperative Human Resource Development Center

HE PGMA has handed a check worth P1,000,000.00 to the Regional Office of the Cooperative Development Authority to start the construction of the Cooperative Resource Center cum CDA Office in a 1,000 sq.m. donated by the family of Atty. Mordino Cua for such purpose.

The Center will serve as a training venue for the cooperatives to enhance their skills and capabilities. The Center will also showcase quality products of our cooperatives to link them to the markets, both locally and globally.

CDA-10 deems it necessary to borrow an additional amount of Five Million Pesos from the Land Bank for the construction of the two-storey building. Processing of papers is now on-going.

Establish CM (Cooperative Market) fronting SM

In Partnership with the College of Agriculture, Xavier University Area provided by XU

While a number of cooperatives in Region 10 are producing quality products, showcasing these products is very limited. As experience during exhibits in malls, these products are commanding demand from consumers. It has therefore come of age to commercialized these products which are highly competitive.

We now banner the truism to the consumers that when the buy, they are actually casting a vote, choosing from several economic alternatives: local versus foreign, essentials versus junks, small versus big. When they buy the products of the cooperatives they are buying the essentials, they are buying healthy foods and they are in fact voting for the livelihoods of the poor Filipinos.

Such is the reason for being of establishing a Cooperative Market at the XU lot in Manresa fronting SM, in coordination with Xavier University that has signified its interest to put up CM in front of SM.

Proposed Coop Market AreaIn front of SM Cagayan de Oro City

Proposed Coop Market AreaIn front of SM Cagayan de Oro City