BRIA to Strengthen FAsand Market Linkages in Western Visayas

In the Philippines, rice is one of the main crops or agricultural commodities. Apart from supporting rural livelihoods, accounting for around 45% of farm households, it is also the Filipinos’ main staple. It is no wonder then that most of the government’s agricultural efforts are geared towards increased rice production. Historically, however, the Philippines has been an importer of rice from other ASEAN nations, more specifically, Thailand and Vietnam. As per 2015 data, the Philippines is 97% rice-sufficient. However, the per kilo cost of rice production in the Philippines is one of the highest around the globe. Western Visayas (designated as Region VI covering the five provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo) is 136% rice self-sufficient and is net exporter intra-island. The market is characterised as inflexible due to the political nature of the staple and its being an inelastic good. There is also a greater chance of market distortion as one goes along and farther the value chain, especially on the post-production processing side, usually manifested in how the commodity is priced.

“Improving Market Access for Smallholder Rice Producers in the Philippines” is launched

Challenges/Constraints:

There are a number of actors in the local rice value chain. However, it can be observed that as the number of actors increases, the farmer as the producer keeps on losing his/her net marginal income. As there are layers of relations in the value chain, there is also a layer of loss on the part of the farmer.

Such failure could have been abetted had important factors been addressed. For instance, access to sustainable financing and working infrastructure would lessen costs of production and even avoid other incidental phases in the value chain.

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Interventions

In order to address the issue of net loss on the part of the farmers, BRIA will facilitate the strengthening of the farmers’ association (FA) so that it can be empowered to negotiate directly with traders/millers for higher value of their produce. To fulfill this, the project will schedule and push for the training of the FAs in organisational management and business skills. Bayer, the private partner, and the ATI (Agricultural Training Institute), the government partner, will handle these trainings.

To link the FAs with traders/millers, BRIA will collaborate with the government arms to identify possible FAs and traders that shall become parties to the agreement. Moreover, the ATI, LGU (Local Government Unit), DA-RFO (Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office), and PhilRice (Philippine Rice Research Institute) will be actively involved in the drafting and finalization of the marketing agreements. Once these preliminaries have been performed, BRIA will work with respective LGUs for follow through and sustainability activities.

Results/Benefits of Interventions

The importance of organised mobilisation of actors and the necessity of social protection for the producers will prove to be beneficial to all the actors involved. Basically, the projected interventions will serve to expand the networks of people involved and enhance the social capital and the financial gain of the participating actors. For the farmers, in particular, it will mean optimal income for them, more income which would have otherwise been lost due to a number of actors involved and become part of the profit-sharing. Eventually, this will mean prevention of the loss of net social benefits.

Aside from ensuring that there is a ready and profitable market for their produce, the BRIA FARMERS School seeks to help farmers to be more judicious in their use of farm inputs and process their produce in a suitable processing environment. Since there will be less environmental cost; overall, this will also mean healthy farmers and traders.

Article contributed byNomer Esmero and Arce Chua

Farmers’ Association signs an agreement with Trader/Miller, facilitated by BRIA

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