Manila, April 3 -- The Bagnos Multi-Purpose Cooperative is transforming the lives of farmers here with its rice coffee enterprise, which hit around PHP3.2 million in sales in 2024.

With a startup capital of only PHP4,457 in 2000, the cooperative now has an asset size of PHP77 million - a success story that Amelia Bautista, project manager, ascribed to community-driven entrepreneurship, sustainable business practices, and government support.

As rice is one of their main products, the 1,500-member cooperative started a rice coffee business in 2008 through the convergence effort of the local government unit of Banna, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), and the Department of Trade and Industry...