DAR and DA-PCIC provide P17.1B crop insurance for ARBs

DAR allots  P1B premium subsidy

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Regional Office 02 has recently conducted an orientation/briefing on the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries-AgriculturalInsurance Program (ARB-AIP) attended by Municipal Agrarian Reform Officers (MAROs) and Development Facilitators (DFs)  from Cagayan and Nueva Vizcaya provinces at the Ivory Hotel in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan. A similar briefing was also conducted for MAROs and DFs from Isabela and Quirino provinces in Cauayan, Isabela.

The ARB-AIP is a P17.1 billion crop insurance plan between the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), wherein the DAR shall provide a premium subsidy worth P1 billion.

The ARB-AIP will provide protection for over 224,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) and members of their households who are farming around 330,000 hectares of land and raising approximately 30,700 farm animals nationwide. DAR shall identify who are the qualified ARBs under the program.

It is a safety net for ARBs against losses caused by crop pests, diseases; losses from damage of farm machineries; and also from the devastating unpredictable weather patterns due to climate change. In addition, an ARB shall receive protection against loss of life or limbs under an Accident and Dismemberment Security Scheme.

Only ARB participants to key DAR programs shall be eligible under the ARB-AIP scheme, such as the Agrarian Reform Connectivity and Economic Support Service, Agrarian Production Credit Program, Credit Assistance for Program Beneficiaries Development, and the Microfinance Capacity Development in Agrarian Reform Areas. /cds

DAR-Cagayan turns-over Common Service Facilities (CSF) to ARB Coops

     A huge warehouse in Alicia, Isabela served as a temporary storage for tractors, threshers, reapers, harvesters, water pumps and other farm machineries and equipments worth P21,117,474.00 awaiting delivery to the various farmers’ organizations in the Cagayan Valley Region.

     These farm machineries and equipments were acquired under the Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services (ARCCESS) project of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).  The ARCCESS program is a government initiated activity pursuant to the mandate of R.A. 6657 (CARP), now known as CARPER (R.A. 9700) after the former was amended and extended. It involves the participation of state colleges and universities, civil society organizations, private institutions and other stake holders aimed at providing a wide range of services to improve the performance of agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations (ARBOs) in terms of agri-enterprise, access to markets, product development, ability to compete with other businesses, and participate in economies of scale.

   It aims to improve farm productivity, increase the CARP beneficiaries’ net income and also sustain the farmers’ livelihood by improving the organizational management capabilities of organizations being managed by agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) through agri-enterprise development.   

    In Cagayan province, three ARB cooperatives in three Agrarian Reform Communities were initially identified as beneficiary-cooperatives, namely South Western Solana Farmers Cooperative in Solana, Cagayan; Naguillan Christian Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Lallo, Cagayan; and Nararagan Valley Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Ballesteros, Cagayan.

     On March 14, 2013 the DAR provincial office of Cagayan, headed by PARO Virgilio M. Acasili turned-over various Common Service Facilities (CSF) consisting of hand tractors with implements, threshers, water pumps and other farm implements in favor of the farmers’ cooperatives at Alicia, Isabela after the execution of the necessary contracts during the turn-over  ceremony.

 For Cagayan province, Solana West Farmers Cooperative (SOWESFACO) received two hand tractors with implements, three threshers and four water pumps; Naguillian Christian MPC received three hand tractors with implements, three threshers, one reaper and a mechanical transplanter with seeder conveyor; and Nararagan Valley MPC received three hand tractors with implements, three threshers  and four water pumps. 

    These CSFs will help modernize farming in the Cagayan province and substantially increase the income of ARBs and their households. The farm machineries were distributed as equipment grant to be operated by the ARB organizations as a business asset wherein they can collect minimal fees for the operation and maintenance thereof. The ARCCESS  project would also teach ARBs agri-business technologies  and assist them establish viable and sustainable farm enterprises and provide access to credit and better markets.    /cds