A typhoon Pablo survivor, SARPHIL CARP Beneficiaries Multi-purpose Cooperative (SACARBEMCO) now sees hope and new opportunities as the Department of Agriculture Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) officially turned-over the P5.3 million enterprise subproject last March 11, 2021 in Monkayo, Davao de Oro.

Before typhoon Pablo hit their rubber farms, they were already struggling and trying to recover from the fluctuating price of rubber in previous years. They tried their luck by venturing into palm oil, but when Typhoon Pablo struck the province in 2012, they were left with uprooted trees and damaged farms.

SACARBEMCO did not stop from trying again despite all the challenges they encountered. They obtained a loan from Land Bank and started their rehabilitation for rubber and palm oil production.

Since then, they focused on rubber tapping and selling rubber cup lumps. They wanted to expand into processing rubber sheets but didn’t have enough funds and resources to establish a processing facility for their cooperative.

In 2016, DA-PRDP was introduced to them and eventually they were chosen as the project beneficiary for the “Village Level Rubber Processing and Marketing Enterprise” subproject.

As part of the enterprise subproject, SACARBEMCO received two village-type rubber processing facilities with supporting equipment, one unit 4-ton capacity hauling truck for delivering their products to the market, and a water tank. SACARBEMCO Manager Elly Morente said that through this support from DA-PRDP, they can now expect better income since rubber sheets have a better price than the cup lump. 

4-ton capacity Hauling Truck for delivering the end product to the market. (Photo by RPCO 11)

Site 1. Village-type Rubber Processing facility

“This PRDP subproject is really a big help to us. Now that we have a processing plant, the price for our rubber will increase as well as the income of our farmers and SACARBEMCO. It feels really good that the long wait is over and our sacrifices have finally paid off. We promise to take care of these facilities so that all our members will benefit from it,” said Morente.

This village-type rubber sheet facility has the capacity of 192,000 liters of latex per year of the existing 40 hectares of rubber. The 124 members of SACARBEMCO will now be able to produce 55 to 60 MT of rubber sheet per annum and increase income to at least 5 percent per year or a total of 30 percent in six years.

By selling the much higher priced rubber sheets instead of cup lumps, the farmers in the cooperative can now enjoy higher profits which will result in increased incomes.(Joy M. Montecalvo)