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[av_heading heading=’ URBAN FARMER ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY JULIO P. YAP JR.
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Empowering marginalized farmers
IN the countryside, majority of the farmers have limited resources, either for financing the improvement of their farms to attain a better yield or to support their family’s urgent needs.
To address the needs of these marginal farmers, particularly in the different barangays of San Carlos City and Don Salvador Benedicto, both in Negros Occidental, the Multi Sectoral Alliance for Development-Negros (MUAD-Negros) developed and implemented a project dubbed “Promoting Sustainable Farm Commodity and Market Enhancement (ProSCoPE) to enhance the capacity of the farmer-members to propel their farming enterprise.
Reynic Alo of MUAD-Negros says the project was implemented through the funding support provided by WE Effect-Swedish Cooperative Center.
To implement the initiative, MUAD-Negros adopted a workable framework in an effort to focus on identified problems – capitalization, production, marketing of the produce, and gender equality to help the farmers.
On the aspect of capitalization or financing, Alo says that before exposing the marginalized farmers to have access to substantial amounts of loans from outside sources, they should first be motivated on the proper way of saving for an intended investment and unforeseen needs, and how to pay their loans religiously.
It has been observed that some farmers have the habit of spending excessively whenever they would have a bounty harvest.
The situation prompted MUAD-Negros to adopt a project which it dubbed “Group Savings and Loan Association” or GSLA.
According to Alo, the project can be termed as “village banking” because the control is within a community itself, and the leaders and the participants are directly running the affairs of the group.
Since “village banking” requires a certain amount to function, Alo says the concept materialized through the assistance of WE Support.
After the project was implemented, Alo says that it enhanced the capacity of the assisted farmers to properly manage their financial resources.
As proof, the various farmer groups formed by MUAD-Negros to adopt the GSLAs have already generated a cumulative savings amounting to at least P3.9 million since 2014.
On the production aspect, MUAD-Negros developed a farming system which conforms to the principle and practices of sustainable farming business.
This time, the system was called the Integrated-adaptive Agriculture and Regenerative Enterprise (ICARE).
But the crucial part of the farming business is the marketing aspect because when a farmer would have attained a bountiful harvest, the problem would be the availability of a ready market.
To offset the marketing deficiency, MUAD-Negros adopted the supply/value chain approach to bring the produce of individual ICARE farmer to the ready market.
According to Alo, this approach eventually promotes inclusive growth within the community.
A marketing cooperative, which was called the Negros Agri-Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative with the shareholders coming from the GSLAs, has been organized to handle the marketing of the produce of ICARE farms.
The unique features of the MUAD framework in building agribusiness with small farmers is the adoption of gender equality in every aspect.
Equal opportunity is also given to both the men and women members in the selection of projects and participants. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com/PN)
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