The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) have
forged an agreement to provide more support for agrarian reform beneficiaries’ (ARB)
cooperatives nationwide.
The program aims to
provide strengthening and capability building trainings for members and
officers of some 1,600 ARB cooperatives, re-registration and assistance for the
renewal of the status as cooperatives in good standing of these cooperatives.
This will provide ARB
cooperatives with the trainings required under R.A. 9520 (Cooperative Code of
2008) for officers and members of cooperatives. It will also strengthen farmers’
cooperative as instruments of equity, social justice and economic development
as expressed the in Philippine Constitution.
The DAR and CDA will
also assist new farmers’ cooperatives in the preparation of the documents
needed for registration and will help them improve their operations and
preserve and build up their capital.
The agreement between
DAR and CDA was earlier disclosed in Cagayan De Oro City during the 2012
National Cooperative Summit wherein DAR has committed to provide funding for
trainings for ARB cooperatives to be primarily implemented by the CDA. It is
also a part of the agreements reached during such summit, that is, to mainstream
the farmer-beneficiary cooperatives into the cooperative movement. /cds
