DAVAO CITY - The Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) said it will create a special type of secondary cooperative called the “Technology Service Cooperative” which aims to extend technology solutions to agricultural cooperatives which are dominant in Mindanao.
This move, according to CDA, is poised to help Mindanao-based “Farmers’ Co-op” lacking access to technology resources to embrace digital transformation with technologies that can be integrated not only in financial technology products, but also in other aspects of different types of businesses of Mindanao cooperatives under it.
Envisioned to be composed of at least 15 registered cooperatives, the Technology Service Cooperative shall offer technology services to members.
“The organized cooperatives are expected to pool their resources so as to introduce technological innovations, particularly in supporting cooperatives across the country through e-commerce, portals and innovative ways of bridging the gap in market access,” said Myrla Paradillo, CDA Acting Administrator.
Vidal Villanueva III, Head of the CDA’s Credit and Financial Services, Banking, Insurance, and Credit Surety Fund Cooperatives Cluster also said this step is a response to the changing needs of the sector. “This is also a clear demonstration that CDA is receptive and flexible to what is beneficial to the sector and community in general,” Villanueva said.
While some cooperatives—particularly the bigger ones—have already started their own digital systems, there is still room to improve their smaller counterparts’ access to online services.
“The special type of cooperative will give us the opportunity to build the digital infrastructure for our movement. One of the dreams of Philippine cooperatives is to be part of the national payment management system. To be able to do that, the special type of cooperative needs to comply with the requirements of other regulatory bodies—in particular, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,” Villanueva said. (Malou Cablinda)
