Antipas, North Cot-The Department of Agriculture Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) through the Regional Project Coordination Office XII (RPCO 12) in partnership with the municipal local government unit of Antipas turned-over the PhP 15.1-Million enterprise subproject to Household Multi-Purpose Cooperative (HMPC) last February 23, 2021.

The “Dried Cacao Beans Production and Marketing” subproject covers initially a total of 354 hectares of existing productive cacao area with 354 farmer beneficiaries comprising 244 indigenous people (IP) and 110 Non-IP households.

Part of the package is the production support which includes a storage warehouse, mechanical dryer, hauling trucks, and working capital.

HMPC storage warehouse

Through this enterprise subproject, smallholder cacao farmers in Antipas and the neighboring communities now have better access to improved equipment and facilities that they can use to upgrade the quality of their beans and sell at a better price in meeting the required quality standards  for cacao fermented beans. These mean an economic improvement on the lives of the marginal cacao farmers achieved through good income flow.

HMPC currently delivers dried fermented cacao beans from the Municipality of Antipas to Kennemer Foods International in Davao City. Through clustering, they are able to come up with better ways to gather beans to reach enough volume to be delivered to Kennemer.

HMPC has been using the hauling and delivery trucks which were turned over last year by DA-PRDP. According to HMPC CEO Reynold Alejo, the closed delivery van is really a big help in ensuring that they can deliver their dried beans to buyers in good condition regardless of the weather while the hauling truck provides them with ease in gathering the beans from its cluster members in different areas in Antipas.

One unit hauling and delivery truck from DA-PRDP

“The hauling truck is really a big help to us and our farmers because they used to pay for the delivery of their beans going here in the center. Now, we are the one to collect it in their farms free of charge. Our delivery of fermented beans to Kennemer is also safe and we no longer have to worry when it’s raining,” said Alejo.

The activity was led by Antipas Vice Mayor Cristobal Cadungon, IREAP Component Head Esmael Intao, and HMPC CEO Reynold Alejo.

“Through this PRDP project we can now have a sure market for our products,” said Alejo. (Joy M. Montecalvo with reports from RPCO 12)