Farming systems in the Philippines are complex, multi-faceted, and constitute the main source of income for the majority of people living in rural areas. However, these have also wrought unwanted consequences on the environment, notably soil erosion, water pollution, groundwater depletion, loss of natural habitats, and loss of biological diversity. Initiatives from various sectors are arising to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of farming systems and to protect the agricultural production bases. 

Payoga-Kapatagan is a cooperative established in 1992 with the mission of ‘strengthening the voice of farmers’ and ‘empowering them by providing livelihood opportunities’. They work with farmers in the local area to adopt organic farming methods and technology, both to encourage and reduce the cost of responsible farming, and combat and prepare for the impact of climate change on the local land. Payoga-Kapatagan and its members produce and sell their own brand of organic fertiliser, 'Greenfriend', made from waste from the farms. This creates a new income stream for the local farmers and revenue that is fed back into the services Payoga-Kapatagan offers its members. This includes training on combining crop production with livestock raising, in order to move away from monocrop production, processing of farm waste to produce organic fertiliser and the rental of farm facilities to its members at a discounted rate. Members can take out micro social investment loans with Payoga-Kapatagan, on the basis that they adopt organic farming technology. Their facilities also provide a place for young people to take part in vocational and agricultural education. 

62 people are directly employed by Payoga-Kapatagan, working across the production of Greenfriend, the running of the farm and the office. They work with 1,300 self-employed farmers with a total of 3,408 farmers in their membership. The cooperative has formed partnerships with government agencies in order to provide its members with social security, health insurance and housing programmes. Following initial grant funding used to establish the organisation, Payoga-Kapatagan has adopted a diverse funding model, which enables them to be mainly financed on the basis of internal funds. This includes income gained from membership fees, service charges from training and tractor services, and the revenue from the sale of Greenfriend. The government has also been an important partner for scaling their impact. The Department for Agriculture in Region 2 is one of the biggest buyers of Greenfriend, and the Department of Science and Technology recently supported them with funding to upgrade their fertiliser production and become a destination for agritourism.

Enabling factors:

- The partnerships between the cooperative and government agencies have helped to facilitate access to and speed up the delivery of government programmes for the underserved farming communities that are part of their membership. 

- Local leaders have played an important role in the success of the organisation, particularly in relation to contributing to the formulation and implementation of Payoga-Kapatagan's programmes and services.

Challenges:

- The impacts of climate change are felt harshly in the region with frequent typhoons, drought, flooding and extreme heat which can result in damages to crops, livestock, properties and sometimes loss of life. 

- Lack of available funding sources and high interest rates to lending agencies have also caused challenges along the way.