The Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA) facilitated the visit of the Department of Agricultural Marketing and Cooperatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests of Bhutan to successful cooperatives in the Philippines as well as government agencies concerned with cooperatives on 24-30 November 2019.
During the first day of the learning visit, the 12-member delegation visited the AFA and PAKISAMA offices and had a learning session with the two organizations facilitated by AFA Cooperative Development Manager Jojo Ebron. AFA Secretary General Esther Penunia gave an overview of AFA and PAKISAMA Executive Director Soc Banzuela shared about their organization’s activities. In the afternoon, the delegation visited the Philippine Cooperative Center (PCC), where they learned about the PCC through its President Edwin Bustillos. Meanwhile, Gamel Dean discussed about the newly-formed AgriCooPh.
DAMC delegates with PCC, AgriCooPh and AFA Secretary General Esther Penunia
During the second day, the learning visit resumed at the NATCCO office in Quezon City. NATCCO CEO Sylvia Paraguya and other officials of the cooperative shared about their coop’s activities and initiatives. The Cooperative Development Authority, also gave a warm welcome to the delegation as they made a stop at the government office in charge of cooperatives before heading to the Land Bank of the Philippines for the final leg of the second day’s learning visit.
DAMC delegates with Land Bank and AFA Secretariat Maru Ventura and Irish Dominado
For the rest of the learning visit, the DAMC delegates travelled to Cavite to learn from coffee cooperatives that established the Cafe Amadeo and to Batangas to learn about SIDC, one of the biggest and most successful cooperatives in the Philippines. ###
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