The female members of a cooperative in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao
COTABATO CITY—Cooperative and Social Enterprise Authority (CSEA) of the Office of Chief Minister (OCM) recorded a total of 12,058 registered cooperatives across Bangsamoro region as of June 25, 2021.
CSEA Administrator Samsia Ebrahim said, “the province of Maguindanao has been identified as first in rank as it garnered 5,439 registered cooperatives, the highest in the Bangsamoro region.”
Other provinces recorded 4,515 for Lanao del Sur, 1,040 for Sulu, 711 for Tawi-Tawi, and 353 registered cooperatives for Basilan.
Among the listed types of registered cooperatives were advocacy, agrarian, agriculture, consumer, credit, dairy, education, federation, fisherman, marketing, multi-purpose, producer, service, traders, transport, union, and workers.
Producer (4,106) and marketing (3,586) cooperatives turned out to be the leading types registered in BARMM, while traders and dairy became the least types that have been registered.
According to Ebrahim, “based on our continuous monitoring, there are 8,785 males and 1,764 females, either members or officers of the registered cooperatives, who are actively engaged in the cooperative activities.”
Ibrahim emphasized that numerous members of the cooperatives are former combatants.
“Many of our registered cooperatives are doing well, being successful, booming and expanding in their undertakings that help generates earnings and jobs for the localities. In fact, some of our cooperatives in the BARMM are nationally recognized and awardee for being competitive, improved, empowered and self-sustaining cooperative in the region,” she added.
Fish Farm Cooperative in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao; Community Fish Landing Center Cooperative in Parang, Maguindana, Ittihadun-Nisa Foundation-Bangsamoro Women Skills Training Center in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao and Ar-Rahman Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Mamasapano, Maguindanao are among the 2021 nationally recognized and awardee cooperatives of BARMM.
The CSEA, formerly known as Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), mainly serves as a regulatory agency mandated for the registration of cooperatives; extend technical guidance; capability building; and inspection, monitoring, and validation of cooperative business operations in the Bangsamoro region.
On June 14-17, 2021, CSEA conducted sectoral stakeholder consultation on its propose BARMM Cooperative Code held at Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) extension office in Cotabato City. (Bangsamoro Information Office)
