4 – 8 July 2022–The Asian Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (AsiaDHRRA) officially launched the Farmers for Asia (FO4A) cooperation with Matulatula Agrarian Reform Community Cooperative (MarCCO) on 4-8 July 2022. AsiaDHRRA’s Senior Program Managers, Mr. Cezar Belangel and Mr. Florante Villas gathered the officers and cluster leaders and provided a briefing on key components of the FO4A project. They were welcomed by MarCCO’s Chairperson, Ka Modi, who expressed his gratitude to AsiaDHRRA, AgriCord, IFAD, and the EU, for their continuing support in building their capacities to manage the cooperative and establish a partnership with key stakeholders. The assistance led to their access to public programs like establishing their new processing plant funded by the Philippine Rural Development Project (PDRP-Department of Agriculture) and the provincial government of Oriental Mindoro.

In addition to their calamansi juice business line, MarCCO members are now venturing into free-range chicken production, swine fattening, and diversified fruit productions, particularly bananas and papayas. MarCCOintends to expand its business reach and channel its credit program to support members who wish to raise free-range chickens and plant papayas. The consolidation of members’ commodities into larger volumes may lead to efficiency in marketing the products and improvement in a bargaining position.