The Regional Project Advisory Board of Region 02 (RPAB) unanimously approved and endorsed for funding under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) the Peanut Production and Marketing Enterprise as I-REAP subproject of Santiago City with a budget requirement of Php14,949,500.00.

The components of the start-up project are the provision of seeds to the farmer-members, procurement of production and post-production equipment, provision of working capital, procurement of marketing facilities and construction of warehouse as consolidation and processing center.

As a show of support, Santiago City Mayor Joseph S. Tan had personally attended the deliberation together with the City Project Management  and Implementation Unit (CPMIU) and the proponent group, Buenavista Multipurpose Cooperative of Purok 6, Buenavista, Santiago City.

Regional Executive Director and RPCO 02 Project Director Lucrecio R. Alviar Jr. applauds the members of the RPAB for their support. They all agreed that peanut production is an emerging industry in Cagayan Valley and that it needs to be developed.

In her presentation, Ms. Vivien DL. Delos Santos, Head, I-REAP Component discussed that the enterprise will be offering two products: shelled and unshelled peanut.

She said that income will be derived from selling the above products and the price mark-up per kilo through direct marketing and forging marketing agreements with the target market.

The enterprise aims to increase average annual income of members on Interest on Capital from Php856.93 to Php5,640.17 by the end of Year 1, increase employment from 5 to 16 regular coop employee by 2018, improve income of target beneficiaries involved in the enterprise from Php1,595.50 to Php10,653.66 per hectare by the end of 2018, and increase net surplus of the cooperative more than 13 times (from Php624,332.88 to Php8,218,536.33) in year 1 and as much as 26.33 times (Php16,439,895.33) in year 10. The marketed output is likewise projected to grow from 3.800 MT in 2016 to 424.512 MT in year 1 and higher onward due to the expansion of area cultivated and improvement in average yield per hectare.

Furthermore, the anticipated easier access to DA services will also raise the production and productivity levels of peanut farmers within the period covered by the Buenavista Multi-Purpose Cooperative (MPC) Business Plan.

To attain the objectives, the proponent group shall undertake the following strategies to include: (a) development of the production clusters in the area of influence thru adoption of various technology; (b) conduct of entrepreneurship trainings and other production and processing support; (c) forge supply agreement with non-members to ensure supply of quality peanut for marketing and to maintain fair pricing; (d) provide other practical incentive schemes such as free hauling services, discounted/ subsidized rate from land preparation and free use of storage facility in order to boost enterprise support, lower cost of farm inputs through bulk buying and selling to members at cost; and give patronage refunds to non-members.

In support of this proposed enterprise, the City Government of Santiago had submitted two (2) farm-to-market road subproject amounting to Php211,442,205.00 covering 18.41 kilometers. These two FMRs are now under technical review by the National Project Coordination Office (NPCO).

Said subprojects are directly supportive to the operation of the proposed livelihood which is peanut production and marketing.

As per the report of Project Support Office (PSO) Luzon A, Santiago City is the only city in Luzon Cluster A with approved City Commodity Investment Plan (CCIP). (Hector U. Tabbun, RPCO2 InfoACE Unit)