According to Article 3 of Republic Act 9520 (RA 9520), a cooperative is an autonomous and duly registered association of persons, with a common bond of interest, who have voluntarily joined together to achieve their social, economic, and cultural needs and aspirations by making equitable contributions to the capital required, patronizing their products and services and accepting a fair share of the risks and benefits of the undertaking in accordance with universally accepted cooperative principles.
It is the declared policy of the State to foster the creation and growth of cooperatives as a practical vehicle for promoting self-reliance and harnessing people power towards the attainment of economic development and social justice. The State shall encourage the private sector to undertake the actual formation and organization of cooperatives and shall create an atmosphere that is conducive to the growth and development of these cooperatives.
“Toward this end, the Government and all its branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities and agencies shall ensure the provision of technical guidance, financial assistance and other services to enable said cooperatives to develop into viable and responsive economic enterprises and thereby bring about a strong cooperative movement that is free from any conditions that might infringe upon the autonomy or organizational integrity of cooperatives.
“Further, the State recognizes the principle of subsidiarity under which the cooperative sector will initiate and regulate within its own ranks the promotion and organization, training and research, audit and support services relative to cooperatives with government assistance where necessary.
The agriculture cooperative may engage in all or any of the following activities as per Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) Memorandum Circular No. 2015-05 Series of 2015 with Subject: Guidelines for the Registration of Agriculture Cooperative.
- Raising, culture of plants, animals;
- Provincial Cooperatives are culturing plants for perfumery particularly Agarwood Bari Aquilaria malaccensis. Later on will include other perfumery crops. example of provincial cooperative is Agarwood Cavite Agriculture Cooperative (ACAC).
- Facilitating the procurement of farm inputs/implements for the members;
- This purpose of agriculture cooperative will be under the Regional Federations. ex. Oud CALABARZON Growers Federation of Agriculture Cooperative (OCGFAC)
- Processing and marketing of the members products/produce;
- This purpose will be under the tertiary cooperative or National Federation, Oud Philippine Growers Federation of Agriculture Cooperative (OPGFAC).
- Any other activities that lead to the reduction of cost and/or value addition of outputs. Will be processing pharmaceuticals using the Supercritical CO2 Extraction for anticancer drugs related preparation.
The agriculture cooperative, in addition to the above mentioned activities may also engage in providing allied services such as but not limited to storage and transport of members’ products/produce. Will have export trade promotions and the export processing and documentations.