Around 170 participants including members of various cooperatives and cooperative consortiums and federations in the Philippines, representatives from concerned government agencies, and development partners convened at the Century Park Hotel in Manila, Philippines for the first ever National Agricultural Cooperatives Knowledge & Learning, Innovation and Trade Expo (AgriCoops – KITE) on 22-25 October 2019. This event was conducted in celebration of the cooperative month.
Resource persons from various cooperatives shared about their successful initiatives and models while concerned government agencies discussed about their programs for cooperatives and how they can further help these entreprises.
During the last day of the workshop, before the closing ceremonies, a synthesis of the event and a call to action that was culled from the recommendations and reports of the participants from the group discussions conducted throughout the workshop was presented and discussed altogether by the participating cooperatives, development partners, and convenors.
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After the opening program at Century Park, the trade expo at Harrison Plaza was officially opened.
Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William H. Dar graced the event and delivered a keynote remarks. In his message, Sec. Dar discussed about DA’s programs and interventions for Filipino farmers. He also stressed the importance of inclusivity of all the stakeholders in agriculture sector in the development process.
The state, challenges and opportunities of agricultural cooperatives in the Philippines was discussed intensively by Cooperative Development Authority MEO Acting Regional Director Atty. Eric Robles, Gerald Tan of the Department of Agricultural Reform and AgriCooPh CEO Cresente Paez. Meanwhile, regional activities and initiatives on agriculture cooperatives in the ASEAN region was shared by Jose Romeo Ebron, Cooperative Development Program Manager of the Asian Farmers’ Association. Ebron presented about the ASEAN road map for the development of agriculture cooperatives in ASEAN.
On the second day, innovative approaches/models on value chain development were presented by Chief of Party of ACDI-VOCA (Coffee & Cacao) TJ Ryan, Taloy Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Vegetables) Business Development Specialist April Joy. Saingan, PEF Senior Area Officer Ricardo Soto, Jr., and Department of Trade and Industry’s Rural Agro-Industrial Partnerships for Inclusive Development and Growth (RAPID) Program Director Edwin O. Banquerigo.
Christie Rowena C. Plantilla, CEO of the Federation of Peoples Sustainable Development Cooperatives (FPSDC), Maria Theresa Correa-Cerbolles of the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), and a representative from the Mindoro Agrarian Reform Community Cooperative (MARCCO) discussed through the topic of product development (processed food) including ensuring food safety and quality standards as well as connecting the producers to market.
Afterwards, the participants listened to successful initiatives and stories from the participating cooperatives and partners in a world cafe style of presentation. The participants were divided into groups and went around the six (6) different booths for a given amount of time. The presentations were on:
1. E-Commerce. Sam Subida of FPSDC shared about their initiatives in marketing their products online such as the Piling Pinoy platform, a website where people can buy their products online.
2. Payment System Technologies. NATCCO presented about the Kaya payments and how this system of cashless transaction can benefit cooperatives.
3. Agri-tourism. The Nueva Segovia Consortium of Cooperatives (NSCC) shared about their agri-tourism businesses as well as the support they have received from the DA through the years.
4. Livestock and Crop Insurance. 1CISP discussed about the importance of insuring agricultural inputs.
5. Processing Plant Management. ACDI shared about their soon-to-be finished dairy processing plant which will be the biggest yet in the country.
6. Agri-Extension / Coop Trade. Jonjon B. Sarmiento shared about PAKISAMA’s technologies and techniques for sustainable agriculture and how these natural farming methods has helped a lot of their members.
After the learning session, the participants shared about their learnings from the presentations they listened to.
On the third day, Analiza Ragos of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) discussed about how agricultural cooperatives contribute to job creation in the country. Her session was followed by a presentation of Noland Penas of PANAW Sumilao Multi-Cooperative where he discussed about their cooperative’s history, their struggle for land rights, and their activities and initiatives for their community. Meanwhile, Perla Baltazar of the Climate Change Commission discussed about the AMIA initiative of the DA.
A session on agri-finance and investment was tackled by the panelists namely: Engr. Sylvia O. Paraguya of the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO), Deputy CEO of MASS-SPECC Dennis Z. Santander, CEO of VICTO National Audie Joseph Samson, Jerome Ignacio of Foundation of Sustainable Societies, Inc. (FSSI), and a representative from Land Bank of the Philippines. This was followed by a workshop session where the participants were divided into several groups to discuss about the policy gaps and recommendations in supporting the development of agriculture cooperatives and the positive engagement with government agencies and private sector or cooperative to cooperative support towards the development of agriculture.
Themed “Galing sa Coop, Galing ng Coop: Showcasing the Role of Agriculture Cooperatives Towards Food Security and Job Creation” the learning and trade exposition was aimed at:
- Showcasing and promoting the products and services of agriculture cooperatives and federations engaged in agriculture development;
- Exchanging knowledge on initiatives, best practices and innovations of cooperatives, federations, government and private sector on product development, agri-financing and investment, livestock or crop insurance, value chain development, and youth and gender-responsive programs in agriculture;
- Identifying gaps, challenges, and opportunities and propose policy reforms and unified action for the development of agriculture cooperatives in the country;
- Promoting partnership and collaboration among cooperatives in different clusters, government agencies and all other stakeholders including the private sector; and
- Contributing in the celebration of the Cooperative Month by holding a unified solidarity action to promote food security and job generation.
Here is the list of products sold by participating cooperatives in the trade expo:
This activity was co-organized by the Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA), Philippine Family Farmers’ Fishery Forestry Cooperatives Federation (AgriCooPh), Philippine Cooperative Center (PCC), National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO), Federation of Philippine Sustainable Development Cooperatives (FPSDC), Cooperative Life Insurance Mutual Benefit System (CLIMBS), ACDI Multipurpose Cooperative, Soro-soro Ibaba Development Cooperative (SIDC), 1 Cooperative Insurance System of the Philippines (1 CISP), and Cooperative Broadcasting Federation of Mindanao (Coop TV), with support from the Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires (CSA) and AFOSP-MTCP2 Programme. ###
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