THE COOPERATIVE that became the beneficiary of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) under its Investments on Enterprise Development component is pushing to enhance abaca productivity, a top city government official said.
City Agriculturist Leo Brian Leuterio said the Tapak Farmers Marketing Cooperative would use the abaca processing and marketing enterprise to increase its production and link with buyers.
“The TFMC is presently buying hand-stripped abaca fiber from the farmers-members. With the PRDP intervention, the enterprise aims to upgrade and expand the existing business of TFMC through the construction of an Abaca processing building, provision of Abaca processing equipment, and delivery and marketing of Abaca fiber,” Leuterio said.
With the implementation of the project, the cooperative is expected to increase its annual production from metric tons to 148.5 metric and the corresponding in yearly increase income from P225,145.5 to P1.257 million
The intervention will result in the putting up of four abaca storage and processing facilities with combined worth pf P4 million, a P2.9 million hauling truck, a tractor with a trailer, eight spindle stripping machines and four platform weighing scales.
Last week, the World Bank-funded PRDP turned over to the cooperative a tractor with a trailer, spindle stripping machines, and weighing scales.
The city government accredited the cooperative, based in Paquibato District, about three years ago and has about 75% of its members are members of the Ata tribe whose main produce are corn, rice and abaca.
The barangay, for which the cooperative was named after, was identified as key areas in the peace and development initiatives of the city government, under its Peace 911 project in 2017.
