The
Departmentof Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Region 02, specifically, the DAR provincial office
of Cagayan-Batanes formally launched two
Agrarian Reform Community (ARC)
clusters, that is, (1)
Cagayan South ARC Cluster and the (2)
Cagayan Grains
Central ARC Cluster, on December 20, 2016 in a ceremony held at the Auditorium of
the Lighthouse Cooperative in Tuguegarao City attended by no less than DAR
Secretary Rafael “Ka Paeng Mariano and other officials of the national
government agencies, LGUs, and around four hundred (400) members and leaders of
civil society organizations operating in the province of Cagayan.
An ARC is a
barangay or cluster of contiguous barangays within a municipality where
majority of the CARP-covered lands have been awarded to a critical mass of
Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs). The ARC development approach was adopted
in 1993 as the primary strategy of the DAR in rationalizing the use of
government resources in delivering services to the ARBs. The Agrarian Reform
Beneficiaries Organizations (ARBOs) play a vital role as conduits of various
interventions to transform it into a hub upon which development processes
revolve.
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| Launching of two ARC Clusters by DAR Sec. Rafael "Ka Paeng Mariano |
ARC Cluster
development builds on the strength of the ARCs with high level of development
which may serve as integrator for ARCs with lower development levels and in
complementation with other ARCs and non-ARC barangays within and/or outside the
municipalities for an identified common development goal. Connectivity provides
for the establishment of correlation between and among the enterprises
developed to strengthen and complement the ARBOs’ economic activities.
There are nine
ARCs within the Cagayan South ARC Cluster composed of: NASUERTECA ARC in
Amulung, Malaueg ARC in Rizal, MADOVILLA ARC in Piat, CACABLAY ARC, SALAMIN
ARC, SABUNG ARC in Tuao, Western Solana ARC, FURABAN ARC in Solana and the ROBA
ARC in Enrile, all in the province of Cagayan.
Lined up
activities and projects for the Cagayan South ARC Cluster include: integrated crop,
livestock and aquaculture production; processing and marketing with rice, corn
and sugarcane as major products; establishment of rice mill/corn mill; establishment
of livestock auction market; and development of inland aquaculture ponds. Support
industries include: feedmill, organic fertilizer production, small scale livestock
and Free-range chicken raising, processing of sugarcane by-products, vegetable
and HVCC production, processing and marketing, and Tilanggit processing.
Four Enterprise
Models will be implemented in the cluster for the following commodities : Model
I- Integrated Rice Production and Marketing System; Model II- Village Level
Livestock Raising and Marketing; Model III- Enhanced Sugarcane Production
through Block Farming; and Model IV-
Aquaculture Development
The Cagayan
Grains Central Cluster, on the other hand includes ten ARCs: SAMANADA ARC and
Nueva Segovia ARC in Lallo; Sunrise ARC, TANASICATCU ARC and LASVINAG ARC in
Gattaran; Eastern Alcala ARC and Greenfields ARC in Alcala; Evergreen ARC, NALASBANGCA
ARC and Insan-As-Viba ARC in Baggao, all in Cagayan.
Slated projects
and activities for the Cagayan Grains Central ARC Cluster include: integrated
Grains and Livestock Production, Processing and Marketing with rice, corn and
livestock as major products; establishment of three primary enterprises to
process the major products; rice mill, feed mill and meat processing. Major
support industries include: rice and corn production; large cattle, small
ruminants and free-range chicken raising; and organic fertilizer production.
Three Enterprise
Models will be implemented in the cluster proposed to provide market for its
products: Model I- Integrated Grains
Production, Processing and Marketing; Model II- Feed mill; and Model III-
Village Level Meat Processing.
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| To
establish major agri-enterprises and support businesses wholly owned by the ARBOs
as initial hub enterprises that shall encourage the emergence of other support
and/or corollary enterprises. |
The ARCs within
the cluster will function as producers of palay and corn. The proposed mill
shall be the primary market that will process the grains into its various
marketable form. The ARCCESS project in
SAMMANADA ARC will play a major role as primary production area. Its ARBO (NCMPC) shall assume leadership in
production. Sunrise, TANASICATCU,
LASVINAG and Nueva Segovia ARCs shall be expansion areas, especially on organic
rice due to proximity. NALASBANGCA, Insan-As-Viba,
Evergreen and Greenfields ARCs shall be secondary production areas. The Cagayan Grains Central ARC Cluster shall
manage the rice/feed mills. The ARBOs
will serve as buying stations of the mills.
Milled rice will be primarily marketed in the cluster with the ARBOs again
serving as bigasan centers.
The Meat
Processing Center shall gather its stocks from the individual as well as
ARBO-based production in the cluster. The feedmill shall process by-products
from the grains mill and the sugar mill incorporating discards from the
aquaculture business, complemented by fish refuse from local public
markets. Feeds shall be marketed through
the ARBOs, as retail centers. Consequently,
because most raw materials are locally sourced, feed prices are expected to be
lower than commercial counterparts.
Organic
fertilizer production shall be undertaken, either individually or
collectively. Products shall be
collected by the federation, refined and repacked before distributed to the
different ARBO outlets. Refined
fertilizer mixed with humus and especially packed shall be marketed as growing
soil.
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| "Let us protect the rights of farmers." -DAR Secretary Rafael V. Mariano |
The Development
Objectives for the ARC Clusters are: To increase family farm income by 20% at
the end of 2020; To increase productivity of major commodities by 30% every 2 years; To enhance market linkages for
major commodities with value-added quality and make the ARBOs competitive with
its ASEAN neighbors; To strengthen the organizational and economic
functionality of ARBOs thru coop Federation; To
make accessible to ARBs the economic and social infrastructures thru
rehabilitation and construction by the end of 2020; To improve and enhanced production
and processing technologies on rice, corn, sugarcane and other crops;
and To establish major agri-enterprises and support businesses wholly owned by
the ARBOs as initial hub enterprises that shall encourage the emergence of
other support and/or corollary enterprises.
