The Department of Agriculture will vigorously pursue farm consolidation and clustering to hasten the modernization and industrialization of Philippine agriculture.
“Farm consolidation and clustering can significantly increase the productivity and competitiveness of Filipino farmers and fishers, including agripreneurs, as they will achieve economies of scale,” said Sec. William Dar.
“To take optimum advantage of the Duterte administration’s Plant, Plant, Plant program, we will strongly encourage farmers to organize themselves into cooperatives or associations (FCAs), and consolidate their farms into contiguous clusters of at least 50 to 100 hectares each.”
“That way, we can optimize the provision of government interventions and assistance, thus providing more farmers, fishers, and their families efficient and quicker service to increase their productivity and incomes,” Dar said.
In fact, the DA chief added that the agency started prioritizing organized FCAs in the provision of farm inputs like quality seeds and fertilizers and technical assistance, ranging from production, postharvest, processing, marketing, credit, and training.
“Clustered farms attain economies of scale and a subsequently higher level of efficiency throughout the value chain – from reduced production and operations expenses, cheaper farm inputs as they could buy wholesale, more harvests and selling their produce directly to markets and institutional buyers, to realizing bigger revenues and incomes.”
Since last year, Dar has instructed the DA regional directors and other concerned officials to convince individual farmers to organize into FCAs, and then register with the DA and other concerned agencies like the Cooperative Development Authority and Department of Trade and Industry.
As a way to encourage farm consolidation and clustering, the National Corn Program for instance provides clustered FCAs appropriate trainings and mentorship on crafting their corn or cassava enterprise development plan. – DA release
April 26, 2024
