MANKAYAN, BENGUET. The Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Central Office together with its Regional Training Center in the Cordillera, the Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office-CAR (DA-RFO-CAR), various institutional buyers, and representatives of the Manpat-a Farmers Association, Raniag Farmers Association, and Blestdam Farmers Irrigators Association, Inc. converged for a meeting and agree to implement the project “Capability Building Project for Farmers Organization (CBF) to support the development of food value chain in ASEAN countries” on March 9, 2022 at the Agricultural Training Institute-Regional Training Center-Cordillera Administrative Region (ATI-RTC-CAR). The project is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) of Japan.
CBF aims to increase and strengthen the potential of farmers to engage in farm business and improve their income, and to achieve a diversified food system for business-oriented practices and enterprise. Also, it aims for a sustainable production through crop diversification and access to credit and market linkage for the Farmer Cooperative and Association (FCA).
ATI Director Rosana P. Mula highlighted the importance of local buyers and institutional buyers to the FCA Officers as one of the main rationale of the project. Mr. Emerson S. Yago of ATI Central Office then presented the overview of the project giving emphasis to its objective which is the strengthening of FCA members competitiveness through capability building. Capability building interventions will include training activities, provide technical support to the FCAs and links clustered FCAs to local markets and other institutional buyers. The pilot project was conceptualized in response to the issues of postharvest losses, over supply and low prices of fresh crops, lack of access to financial and social support, decreasing farmlands and mono cropping. The target area of the project is Benguet particularly in Balili, Mankayan with the targeted FCAs which are the Manpat-a Farmers Association, BLESTDAM Farmers Irrigators Association Inc., and Raniag Farmers Association.
As the project involves various stakeholders, their roles were also clarified during the meeting. Institutional buyers will specify their requirements such as quality and volume prior to agreement. The DA-RFO-CAR will assist in preparing the FCAs in complying to the requirements of institutional buyers. The ATI (both national and regional) will lead in the provision of training interventions and will also invite JA Zenchu (Central Union of Agricultural Cooperative) to provide technical expertise. The JA-ZENCHU is an organization in Japan which has been enhancing Japan’s agricultural cooperatives through various cooperative strengthening activities. The three FCAs, for their part, will form themselves as a cluster organization to consolidate the FCAs produce before transacting with institutional buyers. Ms. Cryza Datic, the DA-RFO-CAR F2C2 focal person, also informed the group that farm profiling is one of the preparatory activities to be undertaken. She then requested the project team to wait for the result of the farm profiling as basis of the trainings for the FCAs.
On March 10, 2022 a team from MAFF, DA-RFO-CAR, ATI-CO, ATI-RTC-CAR, and MLGU Mankayan went to Balili, Mankayan, Benguet for field visits and validation. The team randomly visited eight individual farms of members coming from Raniag FA, Manpat-a, and Blesdam Farmers Association. Most of the crops planted are potatoes, carrots, crucifers and legumes. Majority of farmers are GAP certified and the rest were currently undergoing validation by the BPI and DA-RFO-CAR. Basilio Ngaseo President of the Manpat-a FA, shared that GAP certification is one of their requirements to become a member of their organization.
Signing of agreements will take place after the FCAs undergone the capability trainings.
