The Department of Agrarian Reform
Provincial Office (DARPO) of Cagayan-Batanes led the ground breaking ceremony
of the Nabbotuan Multi-Purpose Cooperative in barangay Nabbotuan, Solana,
Cagayan wherein the later is a recipient of Two Hundred Fifty-Seven Thousand
and Five Hundred pesos as funding for the construction/expansion of their
Muscovado Sugar processing center under the DAR’s Village Level Processing
Center and Enhancement Project (VLPCEP).
The ceremony was also attended by
the very supportive officials of the Local Government Unit of Solana headed by
Mayor Jenalyn Carag. Barangay officials of Nabbotuan also warmly welcomed the
project as an indication of increasing capacity of women and men to participate
in, contribute to and benefit from growth processes in ways that recognise the
value of their contributions, respect their dignity and making it possible to
negotiate a fairer distribution of the benefits of growth vis-à-vis their local
economy.
Nabbotuan MPC is an agrarian reform
organization (ARBO) within the FURABAN Agrarian Reform Community. The Agrarian
Reform Community (ARC) Development Strategy was adopted in 1993 to focus on
priority agrarian reform areas to maximize resource allocation,
complementation, and mobilization for greater efficiency and impact taking into
consideration the limited financial and material resources of the government.
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 strategy applies the integrated area
development approach where the ARBs and their communities are the primary focal
points of development interventions.
Once completed, the processing
center shall help increase the livelihood of the members of the
cooperative. They will process raw sugar
into Muscovado sugar which commands a higher price due to its higher demand by
reason of its health benefits.
Muscovado sugar is the unrefined
dark brown sugar that is more sticky and courser than the regular brown sugar.
It is the instantaneous sugar created in crystallizing sugarcane juice. In
contrast with other sugars, Muscovado sugar has a distinctive flavor and taste
that retains the natural flavor and color of the sugarcane juice, as such it is
also considered as the purest form of sugar. It also retains the natural
nutrients such as calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, magnesium, manganese,
phosphorous, potassium, iron, zinc and other vitamins. It is also rich in phytonutrients,
antioxidants, proteins, fiber, etc., with are usually destroyed by filtering,
bleaching and heating during the production of the regular refined white sugar.
The VLPCEP aims to develop market
competitive Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) products and enhance
enterprise and livelihood activities at the community level in selected
agrarian reform areas through assistance in product value-adding, improvement
of facilities, and assistance in documentation and Food and Drug Administration
license application. The implementation of the project is part of the mandate
of DAR to provide support services to ARCs.
Under the Memorandum of Agreement
(MOA) executed between the DAR and the ARBO, the members of the cooperative
shall manage and maintain the processing center, keep and maintain the
recording system for the activity, and shall ensure the continuous production
of Muscovado sugar as an additional business enterprise of the cooperative.
See: photos on Facebook
See: photos on Facebook
