Lawmaker Urging the Approval of Proposed Farmer Coopetition Act

First District Representative Geraldine Roman of Bataan had filed the House Bill (HB) 230 or the “Farmer Coopetition Act,” which aims to require cooperation with competing farmer associations and cooperatives or “coopetition” with a place-based clustering and creating a fully equipped multipurpose hub.

Currently, the bill is pending in the House Committee on Agriculture and Food.

Rep. Roman is the sitting Chair of the House Committee on Women and Gender Equality and has mentioned that his “coopetition” hubs can remove the middleman and serve as a place for produce sourcing done by retailers and the government.

These hubs give the opportunity of direct marketing for rice and related items to consumers and retailers, shared rice storage and processing facilities, and manufacturing of rice products by farmers,

Currently, the government is looking to give farming assistance to competing farmer organizations since farmlands are underutilized due to only a number of farmer organizations having access to government assistance.

“We are an agricultural country with a population of over 100 million of which about 10 million—or 24 percent of the total national employment—are rice farmers. Sadly, over 34 percent of our rice farmers are poor. They struggle to make less than P200 a day,”  mentioned Rep. Roman.

“Low income prevents our rice farmers from supporting their families, accessing and paying farm loans, and growing rice production. It has dampened interest in farming, forcing rice farmers and their children to seek other employment and sell their farmlands to industrialists, threatening our rice industry and food security.”

Source: Business Mirror