TABUK CITY, KALINGA. Two village-level postharvest processing facilities were turned over to Challengers Agriculture Cooperative of Brgy Bulo and St. Williams Farmers Credit Cooperative of Brgy Calaccad here.
Tabuk City Mayor Darwin C. Estrañero was represented by Mr. Enrique Baliang. He said, “the government supports cooperatives to become competitive and sustainable. Continue developing the potential of your community because success depends on your community members”. He added that accredited cooperative will make them eligible to avail of some government assistance. Mr Baliang also supported the coop in their funding request to build an office adjacent to the facility by way of encouraging them to put it in a Resolution.
“Empower other members of the community to form a cooperative, too, so they can also avail of some projects. May you be an inspiration to them and serve as a living evidence that there is success in unison”, encourages RD Lilibeth L. Signey.
PFO Kalinga Joyce M. Ducyogen urged the members to build a strong rapport among coop members for them to productively grow as a group. She mentioned that apart from this, BFAR will continue to assist them with trainings and other needs so that these coops will eventually establish a harmonized market in selling processed fishery products such as fish shanghai, fish noodles and fish patties during festivals in the province.
Said facilities were funded through the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) program of the Department of Agriculture at PhP 500,000.00 each.
It can be recalled that Kalinga province is one of the recipients of the SAAD program which belongs to the poorest of the poor provinces based on PSA’s poverty incidence report. **RFORONDA
