Agri-10, OIC, GGMC ink MOA to boost farmers’ market access through digital platform

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office 10 (Agri-10), Oro Integrated Cooperative (OIC), and the Golden Grains Marketing Cooperative (GGMC) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on September 4 to strengthen farmers’ market access through an agricultural digital marketing platform that links farmers, producers, and cooperatives with consumers and institutional buyers here.

Under the agreement, Agri-10 serves as the platform and technical sponsor, having developed the online marketplace and continuously maintaining it. The online marketplace features demand-and-supply matching and e-commerce functionalities to facilitate product listing, order coordination, and transactions, while providing data to support agribiz decisions.

The agency will also maintain a central regional farm database to profile farms, track the crops they grow, forecast yields, and publish regular baseline market price reference guides. Agri-10 may also assist with long-haul bulk logistics and farm-to-hub transport using its transport vehicles, when available.

As the project conduit and strategic lead, OIC will organize and cluster farmer-members through the Agri-Enterprise Cooperative Approach (AECA) to coordinate crop production schedules and pool harvest volumes. It will also provide trainings on farm production, quality standards, and postharvest handling, along with socio-financial services such as micro-agri input financing, seed and fertilizer credit lines, climate risk insurance, and direct disbursement of crop sales proceeds to farmers’ coop accounts.

Meanwhile, GGMC will serve as OIC’s marketing arm and store operator, managing the daily operations of the digital storefront, including produce cataloging, inventory tracking, order processing, digital marketing, and sales outreach to institutional and business buyers. It will also manage aggregation hubs, warehousing, logistics, order fulfillment, customer service, and billing and collections, with net sales proceeds remitted to OIC for direct farmer payouts.

Participating farmers will gain access to digital marketing channels and buyers such as hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, caterers, government agencies, and retail consumers. The agreement also provides for the processing of payments and the timely remittance of net sales proceeds to OIC for distribution to farmer-members within agreed timelines.

The MOA signing aligns with the DA’s “Para sa Masaganang Bagong Pilipinas” agenda by harnessing digitalization to improve market access, value-chain efficiency, and opportunities for agri producers.

The agreement was signed by DA-RFO 10 Regional Executive Director Jose Apollo Y. Pacamalan, OIC Chairperson Raul M. Pregon and Chief Executive Officer Floriano R. Hilot, and GGMC Chairperson Doris B. Calapiz.# (JLO)