DAR Cagayan Valley 2019 ANNUAL REPORT

ARB management skills enhanced by DAR-CDA Partnership II

     The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Cagayan province is presently assisting 59 agrarian reform beneficiaries organizations (ARBOs) composed of more than forty agrarian reform beneficiaries’ cooperatives. One component of DAR’s assistance is the organizational management aspect composed of local capability building activities for the proper management of these farmers’ cooperatives by the Coop officers. This is being undertaken in partnership with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA).

   Being the lead agency in cooperative development, the Cooperative Development Authority provides technical assistance to the ARB Cooperatives which include trainings, pre-registration seminars, mentoring, coaching, consultancy, bookkeeping, accounting, auditing, assistance on regulatory requirements, etc. The CDA also provides assistance for the rehabilitation of agrarian reform beneficiaries’ cooperatives.

     To strengthen this joint efforts, the DAR and the CDA entered into a Memorandum of Agreement renewing their respective commitments to promote and strengthen the ARB cooperatives and to ensure the sustainability of the cooperative enterprise activities.  The program, which is dubbed as DAR-CDA Partnership II, intends to put in place a capacity development (CAPDEV) initiative, among others, to improve service delivery to their members and positively giving impact to their business performance and operations.

   For the DAR Provincial Office of Cagayan, most of the ARBO-cooperatives have already completed the mandatory trainings for cooperatives under the partnership except for the newly organized cooperatives and the ARB organizations/associations who have recently decided to convert into agrarian reform beneficiaries’ cooperatives who need to undergo trainings on cooperative operation and management.

    These capability building activities and enterprise management trainings are significantly important at present because these ARBOs in Cagayan are recipients of farm machineries such as hand-tractors, mechanical tillers, four-wheel drive tractors, combine harvesters, hauling trucks, etc. As such, it is essential that they are equipped with the knowledge and capacities to operate these multi-million peso assets into a viable income generating business enterprises for their cooperatives.

    The present government under the Duterte Administration has made it possible for viable ARB cooperatives to access farm machineries to maximize farm productivity pursuant to the food security program and increase their income to counter the adverse effects of climate change.

   The Memorandum of Agreement seeks to renew DAR and CDA’s commitment to develop functional agrarian reform cooperatives managing profitable and sustainable enterprises in order to better serve their members and contribute in improving the quality of life of ARBs, their household and rural women. Generally, it aims to support the government’s program of reducing poverty through cooperatives.

ARBOs in Cagayan province receive farm machineries

TUGUEGARAO CITY, CAGAYAN. It is the month of February and the farmers in Cagayan province are already warry of the coming summer months where temperatures historically rise to record breaking highs which usually result to disastrous consequences on their crops. But this time, they are confident that this year’s adverse effects of climate change may be mitigated through the DAR-CRFPS project.

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is presently implementing a program to address the catastrophic effects of climate change among its agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) through the Climate Resilient Farm Productivity Support (CRFPS) project wherein it aims to increase farm productivity and income of ARBs and members of their household in ARCs through mechanized farming. This strategy is expected to maximize the productivity and utilization of farm lands and ensure food self-sufficiency.

Mechanized farming basically involves the provision of tractors, mechanical seeders, planters and harvesters. The qualified agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations (ARBOs) are provided with farm machineries by DAR through the CRFPS project who shall operate and maintain the same. The members of the ARBO then hire the services of these machineries such as tractors, combine harvesters, etc for a discounted fee. Non-members may also avail of these service but on the regular fees prescribed by the ARBO-operators. Fees collected by the ARBO shall be used for the maintenance and for purchase of other farm machineries as needed. Mechanized farming involves preparing the farm, seeding, transplanting and harvesting.

Mechanized farming among agrarian reform communities finds inspiration in the very successful farm practices in Barangay Halang, Naic, Cavite, with Bernabe Buscayno, the former rebel leader of the New People’s Army (NPA). Buscayno has shown that Filipino farmers can be competitive in rice production if it adopts the farm mechanization technology. He said that among the rice producing countries in Asia, the Philippines is  lagging behind by producing only about four tons of palay per hectare. Taiwan is producing about 10 tons, Japan, 12 tons, and China, 17 tons because they have adopted full farm mechanization.

The DAR-CRFPS project also encourages Filipino farmers and their children to go back to farming and produce more. Further, other ARBs who are not yet members of ARBOs would be encouraged to join in order to avail of the services of these machineries at lower fees, in addition to receiving dividends as members of the ARBO.  

In Cagayan province, there are fourteen ARBOs who are recipients of various farm machineries under the project, from hand tractors to 90HP four-wheel drive tractors and 70 HP combine harvesters. Under the 2017 DAR-CRFPS project, five (5) units of 90HP 4WD tractors and four (4) units of  60 HP combine harvesters were procured, among several others. The five (5) units of 7 HP hand tractors with disc plow, harrow, leveler, and trailer were earlier delivered to three ARBOs; one (1) unit mechanical shredder was also recently delivered to an ARBO in Rizal, Cagayan; another two (2) units of 7 HP floating tillers with rotovator were also delivered to an ARBO in Gattaran, Cagayan. A total of fourteen ARBOs shall benefit from these farm machineries. 

The ARBs can now have access to these farm machineries because no less than Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte himself ordered the removal of costly financial counterparts/equity in general on the part of farmer-beneficiaries. In addition to farm machineries, the DAR-CRFPS project also provides funding for solar pump irrigation systems, three of which are already installed in the three pilot sites in Cagayan managed and operated by the qualified ARBOs. Majority of the ARBO-recipients of these farm machineries are farmers cooperatives who are the lead organizations in agrarian reform communities (ARCs). 

Other prospective ARBOs were likewise encouaged to improve their organizational management capabilities and prepare other requirements as discussed during the 2017 ARBO Summit wherein the programs and projects of the Duterte Administration where also presented by representatives from Kilusang Pagbabago (KP-Cagayan Valley Lead Organization) and the Office of Participatory Governance (OPG) as part of the discussions on empowering the farmers through Participatory Governance. 

Five ARBOs in Cagayan will receive these 70HP 4-wheel drive tractors with accessories

The Rice Combine Harvester makes the harvesting process easier by combining six operations such as gathering, transporting, reaping, threshing, cleaning and bagging into one machine. 

The farm machineries include complete accessories to maximize its utilization by the various ARBOs. 

Machines and implements of this type provide the small farmer with a means of farm power suited to his farm size and income.

DAR builds Solar Pump Irrigation System in ARCs in Cagayan province

The Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office of Cagayan-Batanes (DARPO Cagayan-Batanes) has provided funds thru its DAR Central Office, for the construction of the initial three (3) solar pump irrigation system in Cagayan province with technology provided by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Soil and Water Management (DA-BSWM). The project costs approximately P877,500.00 per site.

The Solar Pump Irrigation System project will provide solar panels and control accessories that will generate solar energy. Submersible water pumps will draw water from an underground source into concrete water tanks as storage,  and the water from the storage tank shall flow into the vegetable farms through pipes. 

The three pilot sites for the solar pump irrigation systems are located in Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs), specfically: (1) San Esteban Farmers Cooperative in the Eastern Alcala Agrarian Reform Community (Eastern Alcala ARC) in the municipality of Alcala; (2) Lasvinag Multi-Purpose Cooperative in the Lasvinag Agrarian Reform Community (Lasvinag ARC) in the municipality of Gattaran; and (3) Nabbotuan Multi-Purpose Cooperative in the Furaban Agrarian Reform Community (Furaban ARC) in the municipality of Solana. 

On December 18, 2017, an Operation and Maintenance Seminar was conducted to prepare the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations (ARBO) members to be able to properly operate and maintain the facilities with a site visit to familiarize the participants with the system.

The Solar Pump Irrigation System resolves the vegetable farmers’ water supply challenges specially with today’s devastating effects of climate change. When operational, they can utilize the systems to provide water to irrigate their vegetable farms, household water supply, livestock raising, etc. The construction of solar pump irrigation systems in the pilot sites are expected to be completed by the end of January 2018 and will be turned over to the ARBO immediately after completion.  

Solar panels provide energy to run the water pumps in vegetable farms with no access to electricity. 

A training on the operation and maintenance was conducted for the recipient-operators of the project. 

Members of the three ARBO-recipients of the project in Cagayan undergo training on operation and maintenance. 

Unlimited water for vegetable farmers through the solar pump (submersible) irrigation system. 

 

27 ARBs from Alcala, Cagayan Graduate from Farm Business School

       Some 27 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries were able to complete the several sessions on the Farm Business School (FBS) training (on Pinakbet vegetables production and marketing) facilitated by the Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office of Cagayan-Batanes (DARPO Cagayan-Batanes) and the Local Government Unit of Alcala, Cagayan (LGU-Alcala) sometime in December 2017 at the Eastern Alcala Agrarian Reform Community (ARC) in barangay San Esteban, Alcala, Cagayan.

      The Farm Business School aims to equip the participating farmer beneficiaries with skills and knowledge in adding value to their commodities to command higher premium. In addition, they are trained how to market their products to maximize their income.

      After a model is selected and participants are gathered, the FBS proceeded with its three stages: (1) Diagnosis and planning – includes getting to know the farmers and the farmers getting to know each other, teaching basic business concepts, market assessment analysis (SWOT – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats); (2) Implementing – Farmers develop a vision and a goal for their farm business and then work with the trainers to develop a business plan; continue with business education; and (3) Evaluating and re-planning – Benefits and performance are assessed, an action plan is developed and participants prepare for the next season.

    The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) started setting up farm business schools (FBS) in selected communities in different provinces. It is designed to transform farmer-beneficiaries from producers of raw farm goods to becoming agri-entrepreneurs.

   Agrarian Reform Beneficiries (ARBs) are also taught overall farm management techniques, from production to marketing, to increase and ensure the quality of their harvests, raise their income by learning the proper time and specific crops to be produced to avoid flooding the market with similar crops resulting to low prices. It is also aligned with the goal of attaining food security, improving the small farmers’ access to the market and increasing their income by selling their produce at the proper time.  

       The FBS is being supported by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The initial success of the project led to its being replicated in more areas nationwide. /cds

DAR-Cagayan hosts ARBO Summit 2017

The Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office of Cagayan-Batanes (DARPO Cagayan-Batanes) hosted an Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization (ARBO) Summit on November 13 to 18, 2017 in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan attended by more than 400 coop/organization leaders and officers.

The ARBO Summit is a way of promoting camaraderie among the different agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) and other farmer-leaders; provide opportunities for learning from specific good practices of other successful ARBOs by meeting and talking about their experiences; share their best innovative practices; and also promote unity and cooperation among the different cooperatives and other organizations in the province.

Presently, there are at least two Agrarian Reform Community (ARC) Clusters in the province and two more are being organized. An ARC Cluster is composed to two or more ARCs organized into groups primarily  to reduce poverty, and have sustained improvements in incomes and quality of life through business engagements proportionate to economies of scale, i.e., a proportionate saving in costs gained by an increased level of production. Hence, unity among the members and officers in the agrarian reform communities is essential value to sustain the programs that will have an impact against poverty in the countryside.

The participants of the ARBO Summit also received updates on the DAR’s programs and thrusts for 2018 particularly on land tenure, farm mechanization, solar irrigation pump projects, sugarcane block farms, livelihood programs, climate change mitigation and adaptation activities, enterprise development, credit and microfinance programs, institutional development programs, etc., all of which are relevant to the management and operation of their coop enterprises towards poverty alleviation in the countryside.

One of the major topics discussed were on the Filipino Values affecting the relationships particularly of rural families and coop members/officers. On a business context, cited example of Filipino values among local entrepreneurs are the traditional relationships which usually develop into regular customer-supplier relationships. Suki relationships build on loyalty (repeat transactions over time) which translates to favors like reduced prices, better quality and even occasional credit privileges. Examples of thse are common in the small neighborhood sari-sari stores (convenience stores). Suki relationships help build and create platforms for personal relationships that  bloom into friendships between individuals. This is also clearly the norm among coop members patronizing the services of their cooperatives.  Of some interests are Filipino entreprenuers who have turned their businesses into multi-billion enterprises such as Henry Sy and Lucio Tan 

Generally, the distinct value system of Filipinos is ingrained mainly in the personal alliance systems such as those in kinship, obligation, friendship, beliefs in God and business relationships. Other dominant values among the members of the ARBOs are: pakikipagkapwa-tao, family oriented, flexibility and adaptability, faith and religiosity, resiliency, hard work and industry. Felipe Landa Jocano, a famous Filipino sociologist said “there are no negative Filipino values, only the wrong use of values”. Values change from one family to another depending on how strong the family promotes them from one generation to another.

The participants were also oriented on the various innovative processes on grassroots implementation of the plans and programs of the government, including how to react and address graft and corruption. An orientation on Participatory Government was also conducted wherein Resource Speakers from the Kilusang Pagbabago and from the Office of Participatory Governance were invited to elaborate further about the government’s efforts on empowerment of the agricultural workers sector. The ARBO Summit also involved orientation on the new credit and microfinance facilities in addition to workshops on entrepreneurship and team building exercises that promote solidarity among the various ARBOs.  

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any. -Alice Walker

Farm Business School (FBS): Transforming farmers into entrepreneurs

SOLANA, CAGAYAN-Around twenty-six (26) farmers from the Cadaanan United Farmers Association (CUFA) in Solana, Cagayan province recently completed the training on the first batch of Farm Business School (FBS) conducted by the Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office in Cagayan (DARPO-Cagayan). The FBS is a hands-on intensive training  originally formulated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations intended to extend entrepreneurial knowledge and skills to farmers who would be able to manage farm business operations on their own.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in a 2011 Report stated that farmers need to adopt their farm business to market changes and to improve their efficiency, profitability and increase their income in order to be competitive and be able to take advantage of emerging opportunities.

The FAO is an intergovernmental organization which has 194 member-nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. Its employees come from various cultural backgrounds and are experts in the multiple fields of activity FAO engages in. FAO’s staff capacity allows it to support improved governance among others, generate, develop and adapt existing tools and guidelines and provide targeted governance support as a resource to country and regional level FAO offices. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, FAO is present in over 130 countries.

The FBS was developed to improve the farmer-producers' entrepreneurial and management skills. Participants work and learn as a group through hands-on activities, addressing issues pertaining to the supply chain market challenges. Experiments on crop production are also encountered to improve existing practices with the end of increasing the socio economic benefits through participation in agricultural and market activities.

The training includes activities that study the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis, pinpointing and introduction of fresh products with packaging, evaluating profit margins, and crafting a business plan. Farmer-participants interact with market and industry players (traders, investors, suppliers). After which they advance as fully capacitated agricultural entrepreneurs.

Traditionally, Filipino farmers are seen as mere producers of agri products and not as businessmen. As such, they usually do not earn much from selling their produce as they are unskilled in terms of business acumen.  Because of that, only the middlemen and the traders are at the receiving end of the profits out of the farmers’ toil. Worse, after paying his debts to usurers, he is left with nothing when the planting season begins and again, he is forced to borrow planting capital at usurious rates and so begins another never-ending cycle of oppressive indebtedness.

The FBS enhances the capacity of farmers to take part and benefit from agricultural market connectivity and builds on the collective/group experiential learning of fellow farmers and shifting from originally production oriented to a business-oriented event. Additionally, there are also ongoing FBS sessions in Alcala, Cagayan for the same purpose being undertaken by DARPO-Cagayan. (Photos by: Elmer Custodio and Santi Mabborang)

Traditionally, Filipino farmers are seen as mere producers of agri products and not as businessmen. As such, they usually do not earn much from selling their produce as they are unskilled in terms of business acumen.  

The training includes activities that study the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis, pinpointing and introduction of fresh products with packaging, evaluating profit margins, and crafting a business plan. 

Participants work and learn as a group through hands-on activities, addressing issues pertaining to the supply chain market challenges. 

Experiments on crop production are also encountered to improve existing practices with the end of increasing the socio economic benefits through participation in agricultural and market activities. 

The FBS enhances the capacity of farmers to take part and benefit from agricultural market connectivity and builds on the collective/group experiential learning of fellow farmers and shifting from originally production oriented to a business-oriented events.