DAR allots P300-M to aid farmers during COVID19 pandemic

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has allotted PHP300 million to finance its ongoing project "The PaSSOver: ARBOld Move to Heal as One Deliverance of our ARBs from the Covid-19 Pandemic,” a project in response to the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act or Republic Act 11469, where the President Rodrigo Duterte directed all government agencies to provide, protect and promote the welfare of the people amid the COVID19 health crisis. Throughout the nation, there are thousands of CARP farmer-beneficiaries adversely affected by the COVID19 pandemic.

     Admittedly, the biggest and most important sector in the country affected by this crisis is the food service industry, the Philippines being a nation with a thriving agricultural backbone, the lockouts throughout Luzon (which later on expanded to some major provinces in Visayas and Mindanao) caused farmers and agricultural workers suddenly unable to produce, tend their farms, and market their products. It also resulted to laborers losing job opportunities resulting to massive loss of income.

     As the public were forced by the crisis to stay in their homes to protect themselves and their families, the local economy ground to a halt but expenses continue to pile up. Business establishments remain closed and some may never open up again. All of a sudden, the agri sector is experiencing the largest loss of income in human history due to the deadly and highly contagious COVID19 pandemic, putting a sudden stop to physical interactions and almost none on business transactions.

     According to DAR Secretary JohnR. Castriciones, the budget for the project will be taken from the realigned budget of the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development Sustainability Program (ARBDSP) and unobligated allotment from the different units of the DAR Support Services Office (SSO). The project aims to give essential support to ARBs for them to be able to perform their roles in ensuring food sufficiency in the country.

     The project intends to provide immediate and essential support services to men and women agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) to mitigate the impact of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) measures due to the pandemic and to address the demands affecting the agricultural sector even after the ECQ has been lifted or upon the start of the “new normal.”

The PaSSOver: ARBOld Move project will provide enable the ARBs, individually and collectively, to continue performing their roles as frontliners in ensuring food sufficiency for the nation. DAR is assisting the farmers in the distribution and delivery of agri products by issuing quarantine passes so they could pass through checkpoints in critical areas under ECQ.

     The Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations (ARBOs) will also be provided with farm inputs such as seedlings, fertilizers, pesticides, and farm tools to enable them to resume planting crops for continuous food supply. It will cover 7,000 hectares nationwide with 90,839 individual ARBs to benefit from the project. ARB identification cards (ARB IDs) are also being issued and distributed under the PaSSOver: ARBOld Move project. The ID cards are being given to identify ARBs and facilitate their access to the government's social amelioration programs (SAPs). As of April 24, a total of 77,119 ARB IDs have been distributed by the DAR.

     The project will also extend its support to 1,200 women ARBs nationwide by providing them with livelihood activities, especially in food production such as egg and poultry production, hog fattening, and similar activities based on their preferences and capabilities to ensure they have food on their tables and products to sell.

    According to DAR SSO Undersecretary Atty. Emily Padilla, “the project will also provide packages containing supplemental food, hygiene products and vitamins to ARB households. Each package will contain 4 kilos of rice, 4 canned sardines, 4 packs instant noodles, 2 pieces bath soap, 10 pieces face masks and a bottle of 50 pieces vitamin C. A total of 126,565 qualified ARBs will benefit from these packages. “Helping our ARBs will ensure that their agricultural production, livelihood and income will continue during this health crisis. It will also ensure sustained supply of adequate, affordable and safe food necessary for Filipino consumers even upon the 'new normal' will be implemented,"

     Meantime, in Cagayan province, the DAR Provincial Office personnel are presently going around different municipalities distributing initially the relief packs for agrarian reform farmer-beneficiaries, to be followed immediately with the distribution of farm inputs and livelihood kits, to help farmers get on and move on to the new normal. (Photos by: Mimi Atal-Mora)
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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

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.

Cagayan farmer leaders attend orientation on Participatory Governance

Tuguegarao City, Cagayan- More than 500 officers and key members of some 58 agrarian reform organizations in the province of Cagayan attended an orientation on Participatory Governance sometime last November, 2017 as a part of the activities conducted during the 2017 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations (ARBO) Summit, peoples’ participation in nation building being one of the key topics during the gathering. The orientation was conducted by Mr Nathaniel Gumangan, PRO of the Kilusang Pagbabago in Cagayan Valley Region (Region 02). Also present during the orientation were PARCCOM member Napoleon Baltazar and Mr. Loreto Batara, Community Administrative Officer V of the Office of Participatory Governance (OPG)  in Malacanang, Manila.  

Participatory governance is a decision-making process that encourages the involvement of more farmers and other stakeholders who chip-in more ideas and inputs to come up with common decisions that fulfill the needs or desire of the majority. The outcome of any decision under this process is generally accepted and facilitates the smoother implementation of a project or program.

The Kilusang Pagbabago is a grassroots-based movement intended to be the eyes of the Duterte administration in ensuring that the delivery of government developmental interventions such as village-level programs and projects truly benefit the masses. It is also the partner of the Duterte administration in pursuing its rural development efforts, specifically, the war against poverty, criminality, and any form of graft and corruption in government.

The orientation also discussed the important provisions of Malacanang Executive Order No. 9, Series of 2016 regarding the creation of the Office of Participatory Governance (OPG) and its functions, such as: (a) Promote and ensure the direct participation of various stakeholders in the crafting and formulation of policies and programs to address concerns at the grassroots level; (b) Initiate programs and projects that will facilitate citizen empowerment and participation in governance at the national, regional and local levels; and (c) Perform such other functions as may be necessary to achieve the above stated goals of the OPG as directed by the CabinetSecretary. 

The Kilusang Pagbabago aims to be a people’s movement that would serve as President Duterte’s partner for change by serving as a watchdog that will fight corruption and ensure that government did not wander from a pro-people agenda. It was also explained to the participants how they can freely utilize the power of the Dial 8888 hotline where the public can file complaints against government officials/offices.

It was restated that citizens in their communities can participate in governance by being informed about issues affecting their quality of life directly and bringing their concerns to the government as guaranteed by the Philippine Constitution. 

Author with Nap Baltazar, Program Director and Nath Gumangan, Public Relations Officer, Kilusang Pagbabago-Cagayan Valley LOI. 

More that 500 ARB cooperative/organization officers and key members from Cagayan province attended the Orientation on Participatory Governance facilitated by Kilusang Pagbabago-Cagayan Valley LOI.

Interfacing with ARB Cooperative leaders on specific issues on participatory governance. 

Message from Larry Batarra, CAO V, Office of Participatory Governance, Malacanang

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.