Online via radio program – Matulatula Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative (MARCCO) was the special guest at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-DZRH radio program called “Negosyo at iba pa”, on May 26, 2021.
MARCCO General Manager Christie Marasigan shared their experience about their “calamansi processing” business in Mindoro. MARCCO is one of the cooperatives supported by AsiaDHRRA under the FFP-FOA, a financing cooperation between AgriCORD and EU-IFAD.
Located in Province of Oriental Mindoro, Matulatula Agrarian Reform Community Cooperative (MARCCo) was registered with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) in March 1998 with a current membership of 331 farmers, where 136 are women and 196 are men.
The province of Oriental Mindoro is the main source of calamansi (Philippine Lemon) for the Metro Manila market as well as the number one producer of calamansi in the country. Further, calamansi belongs to the 10 top organic products of the province1, which is being produced by agrarian reform communities (ARC)2. During peak months of August to December, the price of calamansi would decline to a significantly low level, sometimes even below the production cost.
In 2016, with assistance from AsiaDHRRA, MARCCO visited calamansi farms in Zamboanga Sibugay, which introduced the members to new farming maintenance techniques and practices3 that generate optimum yield. These techniques are now adopted by majority of the members in view of getting a steady supply of calamansi for their business venture. Since then calamansi production has started to stabilize even during lean season contributing largely to MARCCO’s calamansi marketing. To date, members earn at least 100% higher for the price of calamansi per kilo during harvest season.4 The difference in price motivated the members to support MARCCo’s collective marketing. which is then used for its calamansi juice processing.
To add value to MARCCO’s calamansi production and marketing, the cooperative ventured into processing calamansi juice in 2017, which they have gotten a processing facility from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the food processing certification from the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) of the Philippines. MARCCO is the only local calamansi juice processor out of 3 that has FDA certification. GlowCorp is providing technical assistance to MARCCo especially in the area of marketing.
