The recently conducted Regional Project Advisory Board (RPAB) business meeting last April 27, 2018 was a positive day for the calamansi and arrowroot farmers of Oriental Mindoro and Marinduque.

Two enterprise subprojects were approved during the meeting, one of which was the “Upgrading of Calamansi Processing Facility” of the Matulatula Agrarian Reform Community Cooperative (MARCCO) in Pola, Oriental Mindoro. As part of the province’s Commodity Investment Plan (CIP), the P13.7 million-worth intervention is an initiative to improve the processing building of MARCCO which was devastated by Typhoon Nona last 2015.

MARCCO was initially assisted by the Department of Agrarian Reform through its Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Program. In 1998, it was established and eventually started its calamansi processing business with the assistance of the local government.

Under Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP), MARCCO’s objective is to increase its capacity to meet the growing market demand for calamansi-based processed goods like ready-to-drink juices and concentrates. The cooperative primarily aims to sustain its livelihood to help improve the lives of its more than 300 members by providing additional source of income aside from farming.

The members of PRDP MIMAROPA’s advisory board also approved the “Arrowroot Production and Marketing” enterprise proposed by the Bahi Agriculture and Fisheries Association (BAFA) from Gasan, Marinduque. With an estimated cost of P8.39 million, the project targets to establish a competent production of high quality starch that will meet volume requirements of the processors.

The BAFA will also produce arrowroot cookies which will serve as an additional livelihood for its members, ensuring them of a more reliable income thay will lead to a better socio-economic status.

“Alam namin na ang PRDP ang makakatulong sa amin sa proyektong ito para maitaas ang pamumuhay ng aming mga miyembro (We know that the PRDP will be able to help us in this project to improve the lives of our members),” says BAFA Secretary Karen Sace.

The industry development for calamansi and arrowroot, the major commodities in Oriental Mindoro and Marinduque, will help augment beneficiaries’ income and the value of agricultural output in the country. ### (Leira Vic Colongon, DA-PRDP MIMAROPA RPCO InfoACE Unit)

BAFA Secretary Karen Sace presents the “Arrowroot Production and Marketing” enterprise subproject to the members of the MIMAROPA Regional Project Advisory Board. (Photo by Leira Vic Colongon, DA-PRDP MIMAROPA RPCO InfoACE Unit)