By Lovella P. Guarin |
LIBMANAN, CAMARINES SUR – One of the biggest rice clusters in Bicol is the Oragon Farmers Agriculture Cooperative (OFAC). Composed of 304 members, 232 of whom are rice farmers, OFAC has over 600 hectares rice production area spanning across three Camarines Sur municipalities, namely Libmanan, Pamplona, and Cabusao. There are currently 338 rice clusters in Bicol ranging from 50 hectares to 621 hectares rice area per cluster which form part of the total 179,804 hectares rice areas of Bicol.
From a federation of 18 farmers’ organizations as beneficiaries of the P16M Rice Processing Center (RPC) 2 from the Department of Agriculture Rice Program in 2014, it was later on legally registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as stock and for-profit organization on Oct. 2, 2015, with the name “Saradit na Kristyanong Komunidad Farmers Corporation (SKKFC).”
During its five years of business operation as a Corporation, SKKFC has given many benefits to its members such as competitive palay buying price, free and subsidized inputs, calamity assistance, and capacity-building programs. Considering that SKKFC’s operations are cooperative in nature, and to optimize profitability and sustainability, the SKKFC was registered with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) as an agriculture cooperative on August 24, 2022. Hence, its current name Oragon Farmers Agriculture Cooperative (OFAC).
Since its organization in 2013 by the Caritas Diocese of Libmanan through the initiatives of its Executive Director, Fr. Granwell N. Pitapit, the latter remained at the helm as the Chief Executive Officer. The policy making and governance of the coop is carried out by a 7-man Board of Directors. While the operations of the Rice Processing Center and the cluster is led by Angelo C. Begino, Chief Operations Officer/ Rice Cluster Coordinator.
According to Begino who is also in charge of the coop’s rice business, their major enterprises are rice processing and trading. The members pay P2.00 /kilo for drying palay and P2.50/kilo for milling. The coop buys palay from its members and even from non-members and mill them at the Rice Processing Center.
“Dito po sini-segregate namin ang palay per variety sa pag process namin. Kase hinahanapan kami ng clients namin ng bigas na good eating quality, so we give premium to quality. We recommend certain varieties to farmers based on the demand of the institutional buyers. Yun barayti ng inbred palay na RC 216 at RC 358, maganda ang eating quality. Kapag hybrid rice, maganda din ang eating quality. May palay na mataas ang ani pero matigas ang kanin. Ok din naman kase binibili ng mga restaurant para sa kanilang fried rice,” Begino added.
As of this writing, OFAC buys fresh palay from members as well as non-members at P16.00 per kilo but there is an additional 50 centavos per kilo for coop members. Over 3,000 cavans of palay have been bought by the coop from local farmers since the harvest season started in February. “Target naming makabili ng aabot sa 30,000 bags ng palay sa darating na April at May – which are the peak of harvest season,” he added.
Meanwhile, CEO Fr. Pitapit said in an FB post that this is one of the benefits of being a member of a coop such as OFAC. “Suportang presyo ng palay para sa mga magsasaka at dahil ang negosyo ay pag-aari din ng myembrong magsasaka, ang kita ay ibinabalik din sa kanila, kasama ng iba’t- iba pang serbisyo at programa sa ikauunlad ng bawat kasapi at ng buong kooperatiba,” Fr. Pitapit added.
“At dahil nagpapa-practice din ang ilan naming farmers ng natural way of farming, may ‘guaranteed price’ kami sa mga naturally grown colored rice like red rice and black rice. Sa black rice P22.00/kilo ang bili namin sa fresh palay. Sa Red rice naman ay P20.00/kilo sa fresh. Kahit bumaba ang bilihan ng white rice sa mga comprada sa labas, mananatili ang guaranteed price ng OFAC,” Begino said.
The coop’s products include naturally grown Encantada Black Rice, Oragon Red Rice, Handiong Brown rice, Well Milled Rice, Regular Milled Rice which they sell at their stores in Libmanan, GRS Ragay and at the town’s public markets. The coop’s truck also delivers rice at Del Gallego market and participate in Kadiwa activities. The bulk of their milled rice are being supplied to institutional buyers such as restaurants, rice traders, individual consumers. While the colored rice is being supplied to Global Organic and Wellness Corporation (GlowCorp) – a marketing arm owned by organic farmer cooperatives based in Cabuyao, Laguna.
They sell well milled rice at retail and wholesale price of as low as P35.00/kilo. There are also rice sold at P37.50 or P42.00 per kilo.
Contract Farming under the National Irrigation Administration (NIA)
OFAC collaborated with the Irrigators’ Associations for the drying and milling of their palay into rice which were sold as BBM Rice at P29.00 per kilo by the NIA.
“15,000 bags ng palay ang dinala sa OFAC Rice Processing Center ng mga partner IA’s para tuyuin at gilingin para sa kanilang BBM Rice,” Begino stressed.
Interventions from DA Bicol
Aside from the Rice Processing Center II, the Rice Program also provided OFAC with a mechanical dryer (6 tons capacity) in 2018, single pass rice mill in 2021; Kubota farm tractor and 4WD tractor in 2020; and multi-purpose drying pavement in 2019. Meanwhile, the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) provided a 6-wheeler truck (winged van) in 2021 and in 2024.
Farm and Fishery Clustering and Consolidation (F2C2)
“Isa sa mga benefits ng pagiging rice cluster ng OFAC at implementation ng F2C2 ay ang natulungan kami ng DA na gumawa ng 5-year development plan. Naka-attend din kami ng mga capacity building, seminars at training sa ilalim ng F2C2,” Begino added.
“Meron din kaming programang Rice Block Farming kung saan pina-uutang ng kooperatiba ang mga members at tinuturuan ng synchronous planting para mapadali ang pag-apply ng fertilizer, irrigation water management at pest management. Ini-schedule naming ito lahat para pagdating ng anihan, hindi sila magka-sabay sabay na maaring maging dahilan para ang iba ay hindi ma-accommodate sa RPC,” Begino explained. “Alam namin ang schedule ng kanilang pag-ani kaya nakaka-pag adjust kami sa operations.” According to him, the RPC can dry and mill a maximum of 700 bags of palay per day and on-call laborers are hired during harvest season and big-volume milling.
The coop is also waiting for the downloading of P5 M funds from the Sagip Saka project which they will use in the construction of their coop store in the town of Pamplona.
From sole rice business, OFAC is now venturing in swine enterprise. In the pipeline are the creation of a savings and loan program, and the opening of an agricultural store to cater to the needs of the farmer-members.
In their one decade of operation, the coop was able to acquire a total of P18M in assets. There are numerous challenges in the course of the implementation of their various projects, but the officers and members of OFAC remain ORAGON embodying their core values of O-Oneness, R-Responsible, A-Accountable, G-God-loving, O-Optimistic, and N-Nurturing. The coop is also aptly called “Oragon” which is a Bikol term for “magaling” or in English tough, resilient or determined. #