Cooperatives Advancing Sustainable
Agriculture to Reduce Poverty,
to Mitigate Climate Change and
to have Peace and Stability
A Country Report
by:
Dr. Emmanuel M. Santiaguel, Ph.D.
Chairman, Cooperative Development Authority
Republic of the Philippines
Introduction:
Sustainable agriculture emerged as a response to
increasing environmental degradation and the social
exclusion of the rural poor. In some parts of Asia,
this issue has gone to extreme proportions. The
over-exploitation of natural resources, such as
heavy deforestation, degradation of land and
groundwater depletion, made it difficult to sustain
agricultural growth and reduce rural poverty and
has now posed extreme problems to future
generations (ESCAP, 1999).

This is alarming as Asian population is
expected to grow by 1.8% per year and
reach 5 billion by 2025. Moreover, 600
million of the more than 800 million
hungry people in the world are in Asia.
Amidst
these
developments,
local
communities through their
cooperatives have initiated
activities,
projects
and
experiments to mitigate these
problems. They were generally
small, local, isolated and
uncoordinated. These micro
initiatives, however, were well
received and had progressed
into a loose movement of
practitioners.
The Role of the Philippine Cooperatives in
Advancing Sustainable Agriculture

There is now the imperative call to debunk
the onslaught of dehumanizing rural poverty
brought about by Conventional Agriculture
which has given way to a kind of mode of
production and marketing that the peasantry
does not control. Because of this set up,
everyone has profited from farming except
those who have labored under the
excruciating heat of the sun and who have
aged far beyond their years – the farmers.
Three Zones of Transition
ZONE 1
BREAKDOWN
Dehumanizing Poverty
• Powerlessness of the people
• No access to resources
• Lack of capabilities/opportunities
•Conventional Agriculture
•Highly skewed land ownership
•Oppressive Marketing System
Marginalization of
People and Resources
Degradation of Values and
Ecosystems
Social Injustice/Gross
Inequities
Global Financial Crisis
Apathy
Conflict/Violence
EXTINCTION
ZONE 2
BREAKTHROUGH
COOPERATIVISM :
ZONE 3
TRANSFORMATION
A Transformative Leading Edge
The DNA OF cooperatives clearly
states that a cooperative is:
a. Member’s owned
b. Value-based
c. Sustainability
Thus, growth is certainly inclusive and
sustainable
olv
 A Tool of Empowering the poor and
the vulnerable to reduce poverty
 The principles and practices give
high adherence to transparency,
accountability, participation and
democratic control.
 A Vehicle for lasting PEACE, thru
peace-building
 Concern for community includes the
global involvement to mitigate climate
change and integrity of environment
SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
 Ecologically Sustainable,
Socially Equitable
Development
•Social Justice
•Social Equity
•Meaningful People’s
Participation
•Meeting the Millennium
Development Goals
•Sustainable Development
Principles Institutionalized
“Ang mga kooperatiba po
ang kaagapay ng
pamahalaan sa
pagtataguyod ng
systemang patas at
maunlad. Ang koopertiba
ang katuwang ng
pamahallaan laban sa
kahirapan at katiwalian”
His Excellency Pres. Benigno Simeon C.
6
Aquino III
Holistic Development Approach
Micro-Financing / Coop Banking
Productivity Enhancement
Marketing
SOCIO
ECONOMICS
CDA
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Mismatch of Resources versus
Mandate
EMPOWERING THE
COOPERATIVES
Job Generation
Shift from Conventional
Agriculture to Sustainable
Agriculture
Control Mode of Production
Advancing Agrarian Reform
Social Justice
& Equity
Peace
Cooperative Market
Increasing Demand of
Stakeholders
WHERE DO WE WANT TO GO?
Effective, Efficient and
Responsive Agency
Entrepreneurship
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
HOW DO WE GET THERE?
Regulate, Empower and
Develop cooperatives
Access and Control of Ecological
Resources
Agrarian Reform
Community-based Resource
Management
Protection/Enhancement of
Ecological Wealth
Stability
Productivity
Consumer-owned water and
Electric cooperatives
BASIC UTILITIES/
SERVICES
Strengthening Transport Coops
Broaden Coverage of Coop
Insurance
Coop Schools/Institutes
Coop Media
Sustainability
THRUSTS AND PROGRAMS
WHEEL OF
COOPERATIVE
DEVELOPMENT
NCDC
Federation
CDA
NCCCPD
Agri and
ARB
Coops
Union
Electric
Coops
 The
“wheel”
of
cooperative
development must be put into
motion. As presented below, CDA as
the “hub” of that “wheel” must do the
coordinative facilitative functions in
organizing and strengthening various
cooperative types in coordination
with all stakeholders.

Thus, in effecting paradigm shift from
conventional
to
sustainable
agriculture, it is the thrust of CDA to
federate all agricultural cooperatives
in the country. Once they are
consolidated, the federation can
strongly
advocate
to
advance
sustainable
agriculture
and
manufacture their own organic
fertilizer and be in control of the
mode of production and even of
marketing their organically-grown
products.
SA as a Tool to Mitigate Climate
Change

There is a dramatic evidence that various
Greenhouse Gases are responsible for Global
Warming and climate change. It is also clear
that the most important solution to Global
Warming is the dramatic reduction of fossil
fuel use, and that other strategies shall not be
an excuse to continue with business as usual.
The emission reduction potential
of Organic Agriculture
Organic Agriculture can significantly
reduce carbon dioxide emissions. As
a viable alternative to shifting
cultivation,
it
offers
permanent
cropping systems with sustained
productivity. For intensive agriculture
systems, it uses significantly less
fossil
fuel
in
comparison
to
conventional agriculture.
SA as a Path to Peace and Stability

In the recently held Indigenous Peoples and
Muslims Cooperative Summit sponsored by
CDA, the participants made a strong
Declaration to serve notice to one and all
that through SA, the marginalized sectors
composed mainly of the Indigenous People
and our Muslims brothers and sisters will be
empowered to participate in development
and thus food security and ecological
integrity can be achieved. This is based on
the truism that peace cannot be had if the
people are hungry.
That being the case, cooperativism may as
well be the answer because cooperatives are
the coalitions of the poor to collectively have
access and control over their resources which
are fast slipping through their fingers. Such
can aptly be done through cooperatives which
are increasingly becoming a vehicle of
empowerment to democratize wealth and
power and therefore lessen economic and
social disparities.
Peace through Sustainable Agriculture
Long Term development in Mindanao can be won or lost through
agriculture. Poverty is very glaring in the rural communities which is highly
attributed to a kind of farming system anchored on conventional
agriculture. Because of this, farming has benefited everyone ( the local
compradors, the chemical fertilizer dealers, the usurers, etc.) except those
who are doing the back-breaking job- the poor farmers. Conventional
agriculture has robbed the rural communities of farming which should
belong to them.
The inhabitants are further marginalized, thus contributing to negative
peace, if not, to conflict. As countervailing measures, the cooperatives are
shifting to natural, organic, ecological and even bio-dynamics farming. A
few are into manufacturing of organic fertilizer and pesticides.
Thank You!