News Details

Go Negosyo, CDA deal gives agri cooperatives a boost

NPO

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January 8, 2024

THE MANILA TIMES

GO Negosyo has entered into a partnership with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) to link agriculture cooperatives with the country's leading agri companies and give small farmers a better chance at scaling up.

In a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on January 4, the nonprofit organization that advocates for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and the CDA, the lead government agency for cooperatives, agreed to identify and organize coops which will be assisted by private business organizations in consolidating their produce, meeting market requirements, as well as accessing credit, inputs and training.

The partnership was created to support and implement the objectives of the Kapatid Angat Lahat Agri Program (Kalap), said Go Negosyo founder Jose Ma. "Joey" Concepcion 3rd.

Concepcion said Go Negosyo organized Kalap to establish partnerships between the government and the private sector.

Under the program, small farmers are integrated into the value chain of "big-brother" companies, giving them access to mentoring, markets and capital.

He said that after being formalized in 2023 through several MoUs with government agencies, the program has now grown to include 50 big-brother companies.

Concepcion said the principles espoused by Kalap have also become the basis for several MoUs with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Business Advisory Council.

He noted that there are several inclusive business models that partners Kalap have implemented, which the cooperatives can adapt.

The partnership with the CDA will help Go Negosyo identify the cooperatives willing to be part of Kalap, said Concepcion.

"The bottom line is poverty alleviation, and many of the poor are in the agriculture sector," he said following the signing of the MoU. "Unless we fix that, we will never solve the problem of poverty."

CDA chairman Undersecretary Joseph Encabo called the signing of the MoU with Go Negosyo "timely" since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has called on the country's cooperative movement to start the consolidation process for local farmers' cooperatives associations.

"As we implement the merger consolidation focusing on agriculture cooperatives, the program can directly infuse to them and roll out as they make [cooperatives'] resources bigger, expand their membership, and add to their assets," said Encabo.

The government has been trying to revitalize the agriculture sector by helping raise productivity to generate more jobs and stimulate economic activity, especially in the provinces.

Based on World Bank estimates, around 43 percent of the country's land area is agricultural, a sector that accounts for around 24 percent of local employment.

The Marcos administration considers boosting the productivity of agriculture, along with the manufacturing sector, as key to raising the country from a lower-middle-income economy to middle-income status.

This goal is outlined in the 2023-2028 Philippine Development Plan, the country's road map for socioeconomic progress in the medium term.