President Marcos said the government will support efforts to consolidate local farmers cooperative associations (FCAs), citing their critical role in the country's agricultural development.

Marcos said this as he led the National Cooperative Day celebration in Malacañan on Monday, Oct. 16.

In his speech, the President called on the country's cooperative movement to start the consolidation process for local FCAs, vowing government support in carrying out the effort.

"That is how I see the role of the cooperative movement today. Cooperative movement is very closely related to agriculture because for the simple reason that we need to consolidate our farmers," he said.

The President, who has been spearheading the efforts to strengthen Philippine cooperatives, said he envisions a movement in which the cooperative movement, the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), and the government are working together.

According to Marcos, strong cooperatives are vital to improving the country's agriculture and ensuring food security, noting that the Philippines has been lagging behind Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam in agricultural production.

"Sa bigas lang, ang cost of production natin napakataas at isa sa pinakamalaking factor doon ay yung labor cost (In rice alone, our production cost is very high, and one of the biggest factors is the labor cost)," he said.

"Ang labor cost ng bawat ektarya ng bigas— ng palay— dito sa Pilipinas (The labor cost for every hectare of rice) is double the labor cost per hectare of Vietnam, of Thailand, even Indonesia," he added.

Through the cooperatives, President Marcos said that the country could attain economies of scale, especially with the use of huge farm machinery for producing and processing that, in the end, reduce food prices.

As of 2022, there were 20,105 cooperatives in the country, around 1.8 percent lower than the 20,467 cooperatives registered as of 2021.

Based on government records, credit and financial services cooperatives accounted for more than half of the total cooperatives in 2022, followed by agriculture, consumers, and marketing cooperatives.

Last year, the industry generated almost 335,000 jobs.