Coop in North Cotabato Exports More Organic Rice to UAE, US

Don Bosco Multipurpose Cooperative (Don Bosco MPC) continues to soar high as Philippines’ pioneering colored organic rice exporter.

According to a report from the Department of Agriculture (DA) 12, Don Bosco MPC based in M’lang, North Cotabato shipped another batch of organic rice to the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America last June 30.

The batch consisted of 10 metric tons (MT) bound for Dubai and another 3.5 MT for the USA.

At the send-off ceremony in Davao City, Don Bosco general manager Romano Laurilla disclosed that the export of their organic black rice to the US was made possible after a meeting with Justin Garrido, a social entrepreneur and founder of the Social Project PH.

Garrido’s cooperative is the distributor of black rice in the US, with the delivery of 2 MT of black rice in November 2014 and February 2015. Laurilla added that the exportation of pigmented organic rice started in 2012.

“The additional 10 MT organic rice shipment is the product of the Dubai OFW Reintegration Program,” Laurilla.

Laurilla said the concept was designed by former Department of Labor and Employment 12 Regional Director Ofelia Domingo when she was deployed in Dubai as labor attaché.

Under this program, overseas Filipino workers adopt and finance organic rice farmers in M’lang. In an earlier interview, Domingo said this program provides potential opportunities where the OFWs could invest their hard-earned money.

In 2013, the Department of Agriculture reported that Don Bosco MPC has revived the country’s global rice exportation business which had been nonexistent for at least 40 years.

Don Bosco MPC produces organic black, red and brown rice in more than 500 hectares of production area in M’lang, Tulunan, Midsayap, President Roxas towns and Kidapawan City in North Cotabato and Surallah in South Cotabato, both in SOCCSKSARGEN Region.

The coop is also expanding production areas in Sultan Kudarat province. Don Bosco MPC currently holds a certification from the Organic Certifying Center of the Philippines (OCCP).

It is the first coop in the Philippines to receive international certification from Certification of Environmental Standards (Ceres), a European-based certifying body.

It has also been certified by the National Organic program of the US Department of Agriculture. In support to the coop’s export bid, DA 12 Regional Executive Director Milagros Casis said that the agency has poured numerous interventions such as double chamber vacuum packing machine, seed trading center, rice transplanter, seed cleaner and rice color sorter worth P3 million in 2012.

The coop also received P1.9 million worth of rice combine harvester in 2016.

“We are also bringing Don Bosco MPC to local and international trade fairs and expo,” she added.

In 2016, Secretary Manny Piñol awarded the coop with P22.4 million worth of additional interventions, including P5 million marketing loan from Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC). Some P17.4 million was already downloaded to the local government of M’lang for the purchase of additional rice processing equipment and construction of warehouse.

Director Casis promised DA will continue to assist and provide the necessary assistance to sustain Don Bosco MPC’s organic rice export business.

“I believe that our partnership will get even stronger after this another export breakthrough and I hope that we will continue to be partners in helping each other towards better and more holistic agriculture sector,” she said.

Don Bosco MPC has already exported more than 150 MT of organic black, brown and red rice to more than 10 countries in different parts of the globe. (DEDoguiles-PIA12 with report from DA-RAFIS 12)