Kabayan, Benguet, the home of the third highest peak in the country – Mt. Pulag, a sacred haven, and sanctity to many endangered species captivating millions of lives because of its striking gift of nature.
Apart from its breathtaking sceneries, the flourishing culture and traditions of the community is something to be proud of. One of these is Barangay Duacan situated in the jump-off of Mt. Pulag.
With the vast land on mountain hills, the community slowly converts it to gardens of highland vegetables as it is well-suited with the cold temperature, making farming the main source of livelihood.
The solidarity and unity of the community initiate the establishment of the Duacan Multipurpose Cooperative.
EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY
In July 1990, an earthquake hit Luzon with a magnitude of 7.8, the quake caused major damages to the surrounding cities and claimed the lives of thousands.
Barangay Duacan is one of the Barangays of Kabayan that was hardly hit by the catastrophe affecting the livelihood and disrupting community lives.
The Department of Agriculture-Cordillera through the Earthquake Rehabilitation Program introduced the saving and loan program. Financial literacy was inculcated where each member in the community contributes Php 1 peso as a capital that was lent to the members to have a starting capital in their ventures.
Seven small groups were organized but only three continued with a respective officer to manage the operation. Accordingly, they collected Php20.00 as weekly savings and Php50.00 for monthly savings that were loaned out at a minimal interest rate. With the full support of the members, a remarkable income has been generated that increased the group’s capital.
INTRODUCTION OF MICROFINANCE PROGRAM
Later on, to further strengthen the Saving Loans Group (SLG), the DA-CAR through ERP which was later renamed as Caraballo and Southern Cordillera Development (CASCADE) capacitated this group and introduce microfinance. It aims to develop municipalities and barangays in CAR to be economically self-reliant.
The three SLGs merged and named as Duacan Rural Financial Center (RFC). The CASCADE provided various logistics and capability building interventions to empower the members.
In 2014, the Duacan RFC has 283 Regular Members and 151 associate members. About 70 % of members of the RFC are farmers and recently opened their membership to neighboring barangays. Eventually, the Office of the Provincial Governor provided funds to build Duacan RFC Office that was situated in Sitio Pet-okan.
Consequently, with the endless support and the effort of the members and officers, the Duacan RFC graduated to Duacan Multipurpose Cooperative that gained assets of about Php9.47 million through their persistence and strong will.
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
Through the years, the Duacan MPC has faced a lot of challenges and obstacles. One of these is the decreasing repayment of the farmers because of calamities brought by typhoons. However, with the continuous support of government programs and friendly services to its constituents, the cooperative properly manage and address issues and concerns of members through consultations and dialogues.
Pelagia Quimio, former manager of Duacan MPC mentioned that one of the keys to the success of the cooperative is the endless support of the members and the outstanding management of the officers for the welfare of the community.
She said members realized the importance of the cooperative and learn to be a responsible borrower making the cooperative self-sustaining.
ADVOCATING FOR GAP AND ORGANIC OF AGRICULTURE
Since most of the members of the Cooperative are farmers, the officers started to advocate Good Agricultural Practices and Organic Agriculture to help them improve yield quality and increase income while also considering the health and well-being of farmers and the environment.
The Duacan MPC actively encourages farmer members to join training and orientations on GAP and Organic Agriculture from the DA-CAR, Kabayan Municipal Agriculturist, and other attached agencies to further increase their knowledge and learnings to practice it on their farms.
COVID-19 PANDEMIC STRIKE
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected public health, food systems, and employment. One of the most affected is the food system that led to border closures, travel restrictions, and isolation measures which affected most of the farmers in their production and marketing of their vegetable products.
Farmer members of the Duacan MPC were affected by the pandemic that resulted in the decreased collection of revenues and loans. The officers initiated to reach out to the government to help their farmer members. The DA-CAR awarded the cooperative with trading capital amounting to P350,000 under the Enhanced KADIWA Financial Grant Program. With this grant, the cooperative is trading 11 tons of assorted vegetables per month.
With this, farmers can market their vegetables to the cooperative and not necessarily sell them to trading posts in La Trinidad, Benguet, and Nueva Viscaya.
Gina Gabin, the OIC Manager said that farmers are confident that they have a steady market since the cooperative will buy their vegetable products. This will boost farmer’s morale to continue planting vegetables.
Aside from offering low-interest loan services for farm inputs, production capital, and with kiddie savings program, the MPC plans to expand its current services to medical assistance and business trading capital. They are also to put up cold storage facilities in the Barangay to decrease the post-harvest losses and increase profit.
With the exemplary performance of the Duacan MPC, they were awarded a Certificate of Good Standing from CDA, Outstanding farmer’s organization with the immeasurable contribution to the general welfare of the members given by the municipality of Kabayan in 2009, Certificate of appreciation for the continued support to CASCADE in 2004, and Best Performing RFC from the DA-CAR in 2015.
Beyond these achievements, from Php 1.00 in 1990, the Ducacan MPC has ultimately reached Php 25.41 million as a return of investments for the year 2020 and hopes to increase through the coming years.
Indeed, the Duacan MPC story of survival is the epitome of resiliency and sustainability. It also testifies the efforts of the DA in reaching out to marginalized farmers and communities in any catastrophe. May their story inspires other communities in the majestic Cordillera region. # # # (DA-RFO CAR, RAFIS)
