IMODest Proposal. A Coop Revolution for millions of poor farmers

MANILA: We Filipinos are rebelling loudly against the politicians who have made themselves filthy rich with the people's money to the tune of PhP 10 billion. There is much hate email, so much hate comments, so much social (mass) media furor. And yet we don't rebel loudly against the politicians who have deprived the poor coco farmers of their income to the tune of PhP 150 billion; there is hardly any social media uproar.

That is to say, we Filipinos are rebelling because of the stolen 10 billion but not because of the stolen 150 billion. We Filipinos are crazy!

As for me, I'm thinking less of the dozens of erring politicians and more of the suffering millions of farmers. So, I'm announcing a Coop Revolution for millions of poor Filipino cultivators of the soil. In Creative Thinking, you don't have to be crazy, but it works!

Everyone is thinking of what to do with those Senators and Representatives who have enriched themselves - shame them, jail them, make them pay. I'd rather be thinking of what to do with the coco levy fund worth PhP 150 billion, the amount that the Supreme Court has ruled was collected from the coconut farmers illegally as levy during those Martial Law years.

Let the law battle the corrupt lawmakers who fight for riches; in the meantime, let us ask the other combat-ready lawmakers to fight for the wealth of the poor farmers. We are thinking of Senator Cynthia Villar as the sponsor of a bill to revolutionize the universe of cooperatives not only in the Philippines but all over the world. I ask my wife why she likes Cynthia Villar, and she says because she's is a woman, wife, mother, teacher, and she's effective. Personally, I like Cynthia Villar because from what I've heard she has the heart for the poor.

And we have a battle plan that I shall call here coopting the coco farmers. Literally.

The old meaning of coopt is to add to a committee, board etc by the agreement of the existing members; to appoint summarily (Collins English Dictionary, thefreedictionary.com). The new specific meaning of coopt that I'm going to assign right now is to organize the farmers into coops - multi-purpose cooperatives (MPCs).

We have a 1-year old Coop in my hometown Asingan in Pangasinan, Nagkaisa MPC, and some board members and I have been discussing at length how we can transform Nagkaisa into a Model Coop that works for the good of its members throughout the value chain, from inputs to exports. We are simply applying lessons learned from the 40 years of experience of ICRISAT & Partners in dryland agriculture in Africa and Asia.

Not thinking only of Nagkaisa as The Cooperative, we have been thinking of those PhP 150 billion and how they could be utilized to create Super Coops for the poor farmers. 1 Coop 1 Town. If you distributed those 150 billion evenly to the 1,500 towns in the Philippines, each Coop will receive PhP 100 million. A huge amount.

But, you say, coops are notoriously corrupted by the rich or powerful or both. Precisely! We are going to build Super Coops that are:

(a) governed by Board members each coming from the State, Business, Philanthropy, Civil Society, Church, with 5 members who are farmers. We are adapting the partnership lesson that ICRISAT is teaching the world when it comes to helping the poor rise from poverty.

(b) run according to the ICRISAT & Partners' strategy called the Inclusive Market-Oriented Development (IMOD) as the standard operating procedure, with credit provided to farmers every step of the way. Inclusive here means it includes the poor as actors in the development process. Inclusive market-oriented here means it includes the poor in the marketing process so that they too will benefit in full from the benefits added along the whole value chain.

Now, learning from 40 years of experience of ICRISAT in dryland agriculture following the IMOD strategy, the farmer members of each Super Coop will be:

(1) Producing more - Farmers will be planting high-yielding crop varieties adapted to their localities, not some varieties recommended nationally that cannot be best in all places. Test globally, adapt locally.

(2) Saving more - Farmers will be cutting costs of fertilizers by microdosing, that is, applying only a bottle capful per hill. This will save on the cost of fertilizers by as much as 90%, that is, farmers will spend only PhP 1,000 instead of PhP 10,000 every growing season.

(3) Helping more - Farmers will be depositing their harvests with the Coop and be able to avail of credit at affordable rates. This is copying the FAO warrantage scheme in Niger, which was inspired by the ICRISAT microdosing technique (icrisat.org). Operating with a farmers' association, a local bank, and safe storage for the produce, loans are granted to Nigerian farmers in exchange of their harvests. In our case, the Super Coop is the bank itself and will provide not only storage space but credit on demand. Credit is especially necessary in-between harvests, which is the time of scarcity in Philippine agriculture, which the Ilocanos call gawat (lean months). The farmers will not be forced to sell their produce at the prevailing (low) market price, which is what the merchants take advantage of, which is what makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.

(4) Earning more - Farmers will be the merchants themselves, through their Super Coop. The Coop will either sell the harvest when the price is right, or process the produce and get more value for the farmers, up to and including export where opportunities arise. Through their Coop, farmers need not be merchants to be good at marketing their produce.

(5) Sustaining more - Farmers will be nourished by the application of the IMOD strategy of growth. They will say goodbye to usurers. They will profit much from the value chain and continue to do so, so that once they rise from poverty, they will never descend. Practicing inclusiveness, the Super Coop will ensure that the farmers' labors are productive, their efforts profitable, and their new & improved lives supportable.

With all that in mind, we will approach Senator Cynthia thinking of new legislation that will mandate the amendment of the law that governs the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) and transform it into the Department of Cooperatives (DoC). The DoC shall advocate, plan, lead, organize, support, control and coordinate all activities pertaining to coops. The DoC shall handhold each baby coop until it can walk on its own.

And why is this a Coop Revolution? 3 reasons. One, the Super Coop is a collaborative endeavor of the whole society: government, business, philanthropy, civil society, Church and the farmers themselves. I'll throw in the schools and social media. This is inclusive democracy in action. Two, we eliminate usury, as the Super Coop becomes the source of affordable credit throughout the production, processing and marketing process. Three, the Super Coop becomes the middleman itself, and what the merchant gets, all the coop members share.

Not to forget, there's a 4th reason. With each Super Coop operating on the Strategy of the IMOD, we are helping the farmers help themselves truly rise from poverty. Truly I say to you, if you have done this to the least of my brothers, you have done it unto me.