March 31, 2015

The Philippine Rural Development Project of the Department of Agriculture (DA-PRDP) in Region IV-A has met with the Local Government Unit (LGU) counterparts in the region to enhance sub-project packages proposed under the Enterprise Component (I-REAP) of the Project.

Agriculturists and technicians from Laguna and its municipalities who attended the meeting were tasked to survey the profile of existing cooperatives in their respective areas.

Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO) IV-A I-REAP Representative Jerah Valdez told participants, “Proponent group profiling is really important at this point for us to establish data that would determine eligible cooperatives that can be a proponent group for I-Reap Sub-Projects.”

To date, there are three value-chain analyses (VCA) completed for Region IV-A, which include the dairy cattle, virgin coconut oil (VCO), coffee, and cocoa which will soon be presented.

A VCA is a tool used under the PRDP that serves as additional reference for the preparation of Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP).

“The PCIP is based on the completed VCAs to easily determine and prioritize the pipeline of proposed sub-projects particularly in I-Reap” explained RPCO IV-A I-Reap Representative Richmond Pablo.

The Provincial Project Management and Implementing Unit of Laguna has expressed its recognition of the potential of I-REAP sub-projects under cacao and coffee products particularly in creating nurseries that would expand the production of said commodities.

The Katipunan ng mga Kooperatibang Maggagatas Integrated Cooperative (KKMI), a federation of dairy milk farmer cooperatives in Laguna and a pioneer proponent group for I-REAP sub-project in RPCO IV-A is currently in the process of finalizing the business plan entitled “Forage Development and Commercial Silage Making” which aims to enhance the dairy industry in Laguna by boosting the production of milk.

RPCO IV-A I-PLAN Head Ella Obligado said, “with PRDP, we can build coconut hubs wherein a village type processing facility for coconut farmers is situated which will enable them to produce raw VCO that they can sell giving them additional income on top of their coconut sale,” during the discussion of the VCO enterprise’s potential in Laguna.

The RPCO IV-A together with PPMIU and MPMIUs of Laguna are continuously looking for more farmers cooperatives that would like to expand, diversify or shift to dairy cattle, VCO, coffee and cacao enterprises. (Radel Llagas, RPCO IV-A)