The Department of Agriculture in Calabarzon (DA-4A) is urging local farmers to take part in the Farm and Fisheries Clustering and Consolidation (F2C2) Program to establish market linkage with institutional buyers and add knowledge in farming and doing business.

In an interview on Tuesday, Jhoanna Santiago, DA-4A’s focal person for F2C2, said the program will support the farmers in their production capacity by providing machinery, inputs and facilities.

“The F2C2 Program is one of the DA 18 Strategies whose goal is to achieve economies of scale, have market linkage with institutional buyers, have capacity building or training for farmers such as organizational management training, business plan preparation, financial management and enterprise operations manual,” she said.

Santiago said the program also aims to gather organizations with similar products to capacitate them to develop their production capacity and income.

It likewise gives farmers bargaining power in setting the prices of goods and various assistance from the DA’s attached agencies, she added.

Santiago said they are strengthening the implementation of the program through the Cluster Development Plan (CDP) enhancement writeshop in the region.

She said the writeshop is the preparation of the content or part of the CDP to be finalized and endorsed by the banner program and the attached agencies.

It includes the formulation of the CDP five-year plan that will contain basic information such as identity, condition and needs that will serve as the basis of intervention and services.

Currently, there are 127 clusters in the region and 48 more are being targeted this year, Santiago said.

The implementation of the program shapes the skills of the agricultural extension workers of Sariaya and cluster officers of the Sariaya Farmers Federation (SaFaFed), high value crops farmers of Sariaya, and Sariaya Corn Farmers Association (SaCoFA) in Quezon province.

“CDP is presenting the aspirations and destination of a cluster from production to sale with high income in the long-term plan. The cluster will achieve convenience due to improved production and income, market linkage with institutional buyers, availability of training, availability of interventions such as seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, machinery, and facilities,” Santiago added. (PNA)