By Ram Bill Bautista, RPCO3 Writer

The Villa Bar Primary Multi-Purpose Cooperative from Llanera, Nueva Ecija went through an introductory course on the Agro-Enterprise Clustering Approach (AECA) in Muñoz City, Nueva Ecija on June 3-5.

This activity is in preparation for their proposal for a PhP72-million common service and marketing enterprise on aromatic and pigmented rice under the Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) Scale-Up.

The DA-PRDP Central Luzon Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO 3) and the North Luzon Project Support Office (PSO Luzon A) I-REAP or the enterprise development component facilitated the AECA training that would capacitate the proponent group in collective marketing.

The AECA is a tool introduced by the Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF) which entails an eight-step process that teaches smallholder farmers of business skills for a more sustainable livelihood. The introductory course provided an overview of the AECA and focuses on the first three steps in organizing farmers as a cluster and establishing their business.

The Villa Bar PMPC presented their Agro-Enterprise Action Plan as their output form the said training which will be used as their reference for the creation of their Business Plan during the rest of the whole AECA.

On July 17, 2023, the DA and the JGF signed a Memorandum of Agreement for the institutionalization of the AECA in the department. The clustering approach is one of the key strategies for the DA-PRDP Scale-Up.###