Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs) draw Convergence Services

The Department of Agrarian Reform launched the Agrarian Reform Communities (ARC) in 1993 for its key program for national development. In the past, DAR has concentrated mainly on the distribution of land to the landless farmers, while this is the core of any agrarian reform program, experience has shown that this is not sufficient to raise the quality of life of the agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs). And that a strategic development was created which we call the ARCs wherein DAR has focused and realigned its priorities towards the development of viable agrarian reform communities. It is the ARCs where DAR has been intensifying its interventions to increase farm production, improve household income and promote sustainable development. With ARCs, the Department, in partnership with other CARP implementing agencies, local government units (LGUs), non-government organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations (POs) have a structure for concentrating its resources and development efforts. Development interventions focus on Land Tenure Improvement (LTI) and Program Beneficiaries Development (PBD) to ensure economic, political, environmental and socio-cultural viability of the ARCs.

In 1995, the President of the Philippines issued Administrative Order No. 194 for the adoption of the Social Reform Agenda (SRA) convergence policy and its operationalization, which is considered a milestone in the field of rural development. The Administrative Order identifies Agrarian Reform Communities, among others, as convergence areas where the various agencies and entities shall focus their resources, services and interventions. The key components of ARC development are: (1) land Tenure Improvement (LTI); Social Infrastructure and Local Capability Building (SILCAB); (3) Sustainable Area-based Rural Enterprise Development (SARED); and (4) Basic Social Services Development (BSSD) including Gender and Development.

The ARC concept: An ARC is a barangay at the minimum or a cluster of contiguous barangays where there is a critical mass of farmers and farm workers awaiting the full implementation of agrarian reform. The farmers and the farm workers will anchor the integrated development of the area.

VISION: A nation where there is equitable land ownership with empowered agrarian reform beneficiaries who are effectively managing their economic and social development for a better quality of life.

MISSION: To implement CARP through the distribution of lands and provision of support services in order to attain social equity and promote sustainable development.

The National Scene: Access to land is essential to ensure that rural growth will substantially benefit the rural poor. A highly inequitable distribution of productive assets, such as land, does not only limit the participation of the poor in production growth but also stifles the potential of the country to achieve long-term growth. For more than six decades, land reform has been (and is still) the constant battle cry in the Philippines. Agriculture contributed almost P485 billion worth of the nation’s domestic goods and services in 1997. Three-fifths (3/5) or about 49 million of the population live in the countryside and nearly half (19 million) of the labor force work in the agricultural sector.

At present, there are 6 out of very 10 Filipinos who continue to live below the poverty line due to inequality in income distribution, among others. More than half of the nation’s wealth is controlled by the richest 20% while the bottom half of the population gets only one-fifth. In 1997, 44% of the rural families are living below the poverty line especially the rice, sugarcane, coconut and corn farmers.

The Tasks: To empower the farmer-beneficiaries through the following processes: (1) landownership and control of productive resources through distribution of remaining 1.1 million hectares (nationwide) of land to farming families within five years and maintain the efficiency standard for resolving agrarian cases; (2) promoting and strengthening the social institutions at the community level and at different levels of governance by enhancing the capability of the program partners, intensifying agrarian reform beneficiaries development, consolidating existing ARCs and expanding the rural development interventions in non-ARC areas; and (3) increasing access to productive resources by working closely with the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), other line agencies and local government units (LGUs) towards a convergence of services to meet the needs of ARCs, better management and increase foreign assisted projects, establishment of a joint-venture business arrangement between farmers and agribusiness firms, meaningful partnership with autonomous societal actors in land reform and rural development undertakings.

Strategies: In the implementation of the above-mentioned tasks, the following strategies shall be utilized: (a) completion of land distribution; (b) convergence mwith DA, DENR, strategic line agencies and LGUs focusing on specific crops, commodities and integrated farming systems; (c) continuation of the ARC development by expanding to embrace all ARBs, especially those not included in the existing ARCs and convergence zones; (d) social marketing campaign; (e) organization development of the DAR bureaucracy.

The agrarian reform agenda is grounded on three equally important principles with respect to the rural sector: economic development, social justice, and political democratization. Consistent with these three distinct but related principles and congruent with DAR’s vision and mission, the implementation of the ARC Development Plan has to be enhanced and expanded to contribute to the achievement of food security, poverty reduction, and countryside development. /cds