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

HR Bill okeys funding for DAR and DA to insure ARBs under PCIC

The House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee has approved the provision for funding of a full insurance coverage for all qualified Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). Under the Bill, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) are required to include in their agencies’ programs the operational requirements for the implementation of the ARB insurance program. The House Committee on Agrarian Reform has already endorsed the Bill for plenary approval.

The ARB insurance intends to provide crop insurance protection covering about 224,000  ARBs or members of their farming households involving some 330,000 hectares of agricultural land  and raising some 30,700 farm animals. The bill would provide ARBs with the insurance protection against compensable losses arising from natural calamities, plant diseases, and pest infestations of their crops and those affecting their livestock and farm machineries.

Specifically, compensable losses from which ARBs are insured include natural calamities such as typhoon, flood, drought, earthquake, volcanic eruption, frost, and other destructive natural phenomena such as heat and hot wind. These also include plant diseases caused by pathogens, bacteria, fungi, viruses, virus-like pathogens and other similar foreign bodies, pest infestations caused by nematodes, insects, mites and spiders, millipedes and centipedes, symphylans, slugs and snails, among others, and loss of life and/or injury to the qualified ARB from accident or any other causes.

The insurance shall cover crops such as: palay; corn; sugarcane; high-value crops as defined in Section 4 (b) of RA No. 9700, otherwise known as the “High-Value Crops Development Act of 1995.” Also covered are coconut; tobacco; aquaculture; livestock; and non-crop agricultural assets.

The Bill would complement the already existing agricultural insurance for ARBs presently participating in the agrarian reform production credit program (APCP) and the credit assistance programs for program beneficiaries development in the financing programs implemented by the DA, DAR, Land Bank which cover all the regular insurance as implemented by the PCIC.

Insured ARB in Solana, Cagayan receives indemnification from typhoon damage in Solana, Cagayan.

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. 

Solar Pump Irrigation Projects for Cagayan North ARBs

Tuguegarao City, Cagayan. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Soils and Water Management (DA-BSWM) have completed the ground validation of three sites in Cagayan province for the construction and implementation of Solar Pump Irrigation Systems for agrarian reform beneficiaries in the province costing approximately P877,500.00 per site.

     It was during a trip to Aparri, Cagayan Valley where Department of Agricultute Secretary Emmanuel Pinol found out the irony of so much available water in the vast Cagayan River but rice fields just beside it were dry and unproductive during summer months.

     On December 23, 2016 the DAR through Secretary Rafael "Ka Paeng" Mariano and the DA-BSWM signed a Memorandum of Agreement for the implementation of the Solar Pump Irrigation System project, wherein DAR provided funds for the project in the amount of fifteen million pesos and DA through the BSWM to undertake planning of development of small scale irrigation projects intended to enhance farm productivity and as adaptation measures to Climate Change that will benefit agrarian reform beneficiaries to achieve climate change resiliency.

     There are three identified pilot sites to be managed by agrarian reform beneficiaries organizations (ARBOs) in Cagayan: (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.  

     The identified project areas earlier passed the criteria set to sustain the projects as these areas are planted with vegetable crops and have existing deep well water facilities for farms indicating the potential availability of ground water sources. The ARBOs are likewise established and technically capable of sustaining the project.

     The DAR-DA-BSWM Solar Pump Irrigation System project is being implemented pursuant to Republic Act 9729, known as the Climate Change Act wherein it mandates government to take effective actions to mitigate the effects climate change. It calls for collective action among government agencies to pursue climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, to implement programs and projects to lead communities toward resiliency amidst the risks and vulnerabilities brought about by climate change.

     Under the Solar Pump Irrigation System project, the pilot ARBOs shall be provided with solar panels and control accessories that will generate solar energy. Submersible water pumps shall also be provided to draw water from underground or open source. A water tank to store the water shall also be constructed that will include pipe layout system to distribute water for its intended use. The projects are expected to be operational by end of July 2017. There are also other project sites in Isabela and in Region 1. 

Solar panels for ARBOs. 

     Solar energy is a growing technology and a viable source of renewable energy for operating irrigation systems in the countryside. It is cheaper than conventional fossil-based generated power system. It is sustainable and does not contribute to carbon emission which is the main source of global warming.

Eastern Alcala ARC Peanuts at Pav-Vurulun Festival Fair

 Roasted In-Shell Peanuts from Eastern Alcala Agrarian Reform Community (Eastern Alcala ARC) were once again exhibited and sold at the PAV-VURULUN Festival Trade Fair at Tuguegarao City on August 8-16, 2012 at the 3^rd Floor, Mall of the Valley, Tuguegarao City on the occasion of the Patronal City Fiesta of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan (North).

Native peanuts thrive in the fertile soils of the Cagayan Valley Region, but in the municipality of Alcala, Cagayan province, it is grown and processed into a high-end commercial product. The Roasted In-Shell Peanuts of Alcala Rural Improvement Club (RIC) Multi-Purpose Cooperative (MPC) became even more popular when it received an award as one of the best processed food during the 9^th Agraryo Trade Fair held sometime in June, 2010 at the Megatrade Hall, SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City, Philippines.

9th Agraryo Trade Fair Best Processed Food...

Roasted In-Shell (or Inshell) Peanut is a good source of protein and the “good fat” meaning, it has naturally zero Cholesterol. It is now being considered as one of the better alternatives for daily snacks by health-conscious people and those who at risk of developing heart diseases.

AWRIC In-Shell Roasted Peanut 

Would you believe that a peanut is actually not a nut because it is a legume related to the beans and lentils? In fact, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition sometime in December 1991 showed that diets high in monounsaturated fats from peanuts (including peanut butter) reduces a person’s risk from cardiovascular disease by as much as 21% compared to the standard American diet. It was also shown that eating a low-fat diet reduced the same risk by only 12%. One cup of In-Shell Roasted Peanuts yields 305 calories (shell not eaten, of course), which is broken down as 73% fat (the good fat), 9% carbohydrate and 18% protein.

This In-Shell Roasted Peanuts is manufactured by the Alcala Rural Improvement Club Multi-Purpose Cooperative located at Centro Sur, Alcala, Cagayan. It is an all-women organization and an agrarian reform beneficiary organization (ARBO) within the Eastern Alacala Agrarian Reform Community. /cds