SMD, a Successful Convergence!
The Sta. Maria Dairy (SMD) Farmers MPC was established and organized to serve the needs of the farmers of Sta. Maria, Bulacan and nearby towns. The cooperative is presently making dairy products such as yoghurt, kesong puti, fresh milk, milk bar, choco milk and pastillas with existing market in Manila, Pasig, Quezon City, Makati City and Bulacan. Sta. Maria Dairy Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative was established in 1970 and renewed their registration with the Cooperative Development Authority on February 23, 2010.
After typhoon Ondoy in 2009, the SMD was left with only 4 reconditioned units of freezers which were not sufficient to stock or preserve dairy products, and one (1) foot sealer which was being used for their sachet products. Farmers were slowly transferring to other Dairy Cooperative in Sta. Maria because of their limited freezers and chilling tanks to preserve raw and finished products.
On July 15, 2013, the Department of Trade and Industry- Bulacan Provincial Office, through the Shared Service Facility Program, awarded SSF equipment to SMD for storage and packaging of dairy products, until they gradually recovered from the decreasing sales performance. On the 4th quarter of 2014, Sta. Maria Dairy Farmers MPC was absorbed as a Dairy Division of Catmon MPC. With the leadership and management of Catmon MPC, thru Manager Luisito Dela Rosa, the sales generated by Sta. Maria Dairy started to increase. Thru the help of the SSF Program, the farmer beneficiaries can now sell bigger volume to Sta. Maria Dairy because they can now accommodate bigger volume of raw milk. In addition, Sta. Maria Dairy was able to establish competitive price of buying raw milk with other dairy cooperatives, thus, more farmers are now being reliable and loyal suppliers to the coop.
With existing SSF equipment, under the management of Catmon MPC, Sta. Maria Dairy now has regular delivery in Robinson’s Supermarket, All Day Supermarket, Waltermart, Market-Market, Metro Gaisano (Alabang, Binondo, Pasig, New Port), Binondo Lucky China Town, NDA Alabang, Marquee Mall, Rosalie’s Bibingka, Bulacan Pasalubong Center, and other pasalubong centers. The SSF equipment increased its sales per month to 250%. To date, 89 farmer beneficiaries and 52 jobs were generated as of September, 2018. SMD, was very active in various trade fair activities such as: Paskong Pinoy Trade fair, Halamanan Festival, National Food Fair, North Luzon Area Business Conference Trade Fair, Palengke Fresh Market Trade Fair, Marquee Mall Weekend Trade Fair, SM Fairview Trade Fair, Bulacan Food Fair and Exposition, Singkaban Trade Fair, Likha ng Central Luzon, Uptown Center Fair, SM North Edsa Bazaar, CARP Trade Fair and Big Bite Food Fest.
The growth of Sta. Maria Dairy is a convergence effort of farmers and government. National Dairy Authority also helped in sourcing cow/carabao, financing of building, while the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Sta. Maria provides support through subsidy in trade fair participation, and DTI thru the provision of SSF equipment, participation fee subsidy to trade fairs, OTOP Next gen product development, and packaging and labelling, among others. Recently, Sta. Maria Dairy, a Dairy Division of Catmon MPC was awarded as the Best SSF Cooperator in the Province of Bulacan for the year 2018.