Agrarian reform co-op in Agusan Sur sells rice at P30 to P35 a kilo

Winnowing rice in Bunawan, Agusan del Sur. MindaNews file photo by BOBBY TIMONERA

TRENTO, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 30 September) — A cooperative of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in this town is selling rice at P30 to P35 a kilo.

The rice comes from the processing plant of the Southern Agusan Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SAMPCO) that can process at least 200 bags of rice a day.

SAMPCO manager Max Gegato said they are selling a P50-kilo bag of rice at P1500 to P1800 depending on the variety.

He said this is equivalent to buying P30 to P35 per kilo, which is cheaper than purchasing either local or imported rice in the market.

The processing plant is a P48-million facility funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) under Convergence of Value Chain Enhancement for Rural Growth and Empowerment (Project ConVERGE) of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

Gomer Tumbali, IFAD manager of Project ConVERGE, said it would not take long before the plant sells rice at P25 to P30 a kilo. He pointed out this is close to the campaign promise of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to bring down the price of rice to P20 a kilo.

SAMPCO’s rice processing plant in Trento, Agusan del Sur. File photo

The prices of rice in most areas of the country have not gone down below the P40 level.

Jamil Amatonding Jr., Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II of DAR Agusan del Sur, said the large-scale milling complex complete with solar and mechanical batch dryers and a multi-pass miller has been operating all year round even at the height of the pandemic in 2020.

Amatonding said transporting harvested palay produced by ARB cooperatives from four neighboring towns would be more convenient once the 600-meter road from the national highway to the plant is concreted by October this year.

Local officials and DAR executives held a groundbreaking ceremony for the road on Thursday.

The same plant supplied at least P50 million worth of rice to the hospitals, the local jails, local government units, quarantine centers, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the distribution of food relief packs during lockdowns and stringent mobility measures at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The bulk of rice production is part of the total of P150 million gross sales of farm products by agrarian reform farmers in the province at the height of the pandemic, a feat that Amatonding said made the province the top producer in the country during the COVID crisis.

“I can look at Agusan del Sur to be a rice granary of Caraga region soon,” he said.

The official said the success of farmers under Project ConVERGE can serve as a benchmark for farmers in other parts of the country to learn to produce more in their rice lands.

He said the farmers under the project will be freed from the control of middlemen and unscrupulous traders since they will no longer sell their palay at the lowest farm gate prices and instead become productive rice entrepreneurs who will sell very affordable quality rice to end consumers.

SAMPCO serves as a consolidator of rice produced by three other agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations: Kahugpungan sa Malahutayong Mag-uuma Para sa Ekonomikanhong Kalambuan, La Fortuna Multi-Purpose Cooperative and Baug CARP Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose Cooperative.

The agrarian reform cooperatives are from the municipalities of Veruela, Trento, Bunawan, and Sta. Josefa, or what is collectively called VETREBUNS cluster known for its rice production, processing, and marketing.

Based on the results of their strategic plan with the farmers, Amatonding said expenses will be reduced significantly from P47,000 per hectare, which drove the farmers further into indebtedness with the traders.

He explained that if farmers earn a gross amount of P74,000 per hectare, with the mechanized inputs that lessen their expenses, their net income will go as high as P37,000 to P45,000 per hectare.

According to a study by DAR Agusan del Sur, the production cost of agrarian reform farmers reached P35,00 per hectare.

The farmers in VETREBUNS who planted 33,425 hectares of rice land produced at least 128,435 metric tons every harvest. (Chris V. Panganiban/MindaNews)

Source: https://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2022/09/agrarian-reform-co-op-in-agusan-sur-sells-rice-at-p30-to-p35-a-kilo/