TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Members of a cooperative in this city ventured to increase their banana production through the assistance of the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP).
The DA-PRDP supports the subproject on Banana (Cardava) Consolidation and Marketing of Daram-Cudal Multipurpose Cooperative (DCMPC) with the turnover this second quarter of items procured that include a 10-tonner truck, drying racks, plastic pallets, wash bins, plastic crates, trolley, and weighing scales.
To further boost the operation of DCMPC, the enterprise subproject provides the banana farmer-members an opportunity to avail of technical services, post-harvest facilities, tools, and equipment to address the high cost of hauling and handling of bananas and other related problems.
With ready market in place, unripe bananas will be consolidated which will in the long run increase the income of banana farmers.
The price for banana produce is expected to be regulated to increase profitability.
“This enterprise subproject will help us encourage more of our farmer-members to shift to the production of banana because unlike corn or other crops, bananas can be grown in any weather condition,” said DCMPC General Manager Juliana Salibad.
She said they learned a lot of things, especially in the business planning stage of the subproject.
A P4.7-million worth banana consolidation and trading center was also constructed in Bulanao and will soon be turned over to the DCMPC, including a working capital amounting to P555,000 to start the enterprise.
The enterprise has a total project cost of P10.56M, funded on a cost-sharing scheme – 60 percent from the World Bank loan proceeds with 20 percent each counterparts from the DA, the Kalinga provincial local government unit, and 20 percent equity from the DCMPC as the proponent group.
The DCMPC is now crafting the operations manual for their enterprise which will entail policies and sanctions on how they will effectively implement and sustain their enterprise as to their financial and organizational supervision.
One of their future plans to sustain their enterprise subproject is to encourage farmer-members to expand their banana production, establish partnership and market linkage within and outside the province, and process byproducts from second class banana produce into ketchup and chips, among other products. – Peter A. Balocnit with reports from Elvy Taquio Estacio
