DAR and CSU train farmers to become businessmen

In preparation to the emergence of the One-ASEAN economy, the Department ofAgrarian Reform-Provincial Office of Cagayan-Batanes (DARPO Cagayan-Batanes) and the Cagayan State University (CSU) have entered into an agreement to provide business development extension services to members agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations on the province of Cagayan.

It is an undeniable fact that globalization and trade liberalization are already affecting the way local economies are performing. In these cut-throat business competition, victory shall be achieved only by those who are prepared to meet the challenges of open market competition.

Building social enterprises manned by agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) are now being undertaken by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) by strengthening the capabilities of peoples’ organizations, cooperatives and individual farmer-beneficiaries by transforming them from operators of partitioned cluster farms into united producers and managers of large production scale, plantation type farmer-entrepreneurs.

In order to make the once small farm tenants now small landowners-cultivators competitive,  the DAR has partnered with the Cagayan State University-College of Business Entrepreneurship and Accountancy (CSU-CBEA) to provide trainings and assistance in the preparation of financial statements, drafting of feasibility studies/business proposals and business management, among others, in favor of marginalized farmer-beneficiaries in agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations.

These activities will further improve the capabilities of these organizations and cooperatives to access loans from the Land Bank of the Philippines and other financing institutions to enable them to improve and expand their business operations to meet the demands of economies of scale.

The DAR-CSU/CBEA partnership to this effect was formalized through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) executed on January 28, 2014 by and between the DAR Regional Director, Atty. Marjorie P. Ayson; CSU President Romeo Quilang; and Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer (PARPO) Virgilio M. Acasili. Other officials of the DAR, CSU, and the various ARBOs and cooperatives witnessed the MOA signing. /christiandsales

DAR, CSU and LGUs to prime up Cagayan agribiz through ARC clusters

TUGUEGARAO CITY. The Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office of Cagayan-Batanes (DARPO Cagayan-Batanes), in a meeting with the Cagayan State University, Tuguegarao campus, together with officials from the local government units of Tuguegarao, Iguig, Penablanca, Piat, Amulung, Solana, Tuao and Enrile held on November 15, 2013 disclosed a plan to create agrarian reform community clusters and that they have agreed and actually started to develop an integrated agribusiness plan to serve as a matrix of the rural enterprises to be undertaken in the ARC cluster.

An ARC cluster is composed of two or more agrarian reform communities (ARCs) who have banded together to share resources, to work together to attain economies of scale and to expand their business operations that will include other municipalities.

The ARC Cluster shall be promoted as the convergence point of all government program implemented by government agencies such that each program and project is complimentary and supportive to each other. The strategy shall adopt a more comprehensive and integrated approach to rural development through collaborative efforts by all stake holders and partners. The bottom line objective is to improve productivity and income of the farmers by focusing agribusiness development of agro-industrial crops and to create economies of scale and active, harmonious and peaceful communities. Another aim of this strategy is to widen the impact area that the ARC Program has started. It is intended to concretely operationalize partnership and convergence of development interventions in the rural areas not only in ARCs but to include the Non-ARC communities. 

The Program  shall adopt a more comprehensive approach which is multi-disciplinary in character, and would try to integrate the spatial and physical development with the economic, social and institutional aspects for a given geographic area.

The Cagayan South ARC Cluster will take the lead in the implementation of the plan. The Cagayan South ARC Cluster is composed of agrarian reform communities in Tuguegarao City and in the municipalities of Piat, Amulung (West), Solana, Tuao and Enrile. The cluster has been created under the industry-based category and will be a major player in the grains and sugarcane industry.

The World Bank shall compliment DAR’s efforts in priming up the agribusinesses of the ARC cluster through funding from the World Bank-GROWTH project. The parties have committed to work together to prepare and eventually submit an integrated agribusiness plan for the Cluster ARC.

The Cagayan State University (CSU) through its College of Business, Entrepreneurship and Accountancy shall undertake to equip the members and officers of the key agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations (ARBOs) with skills and capabilities to manage and operate the various agribusiness enterprises of their organizations. Photos by: Aldwin Addun

DARPO-Cagayan and CSU sign MOA on ARCCESS

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office (DARPO) of Cagayan, represented by PARO Virgilio M. Acasili and the Cagayan State University (CSU), represented by Dr. Romeo R. Quilang, University President was signed on Thursday, May 23, 2013 at the CSU-Andrews Campus, Caritan, Tuguegarao City in the presence of Dr. Dominador O. Tamayao, Vice President for Research and Extension, Atty. Marjorie P. Ayson, DAR Regional Director, Mr. Elpidio Urbanozo, Chief, Beneficiaries Development and Coordination Division, and Mr. Aldwin Addun, Human Development Specialist.

Under such MOA, the DAR and CSU undertake to pursue and implement the Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services (ARCCESS) wherein CSU shall conduct the Organizational Enterprise-Needs Assessment and Design Assessment (OE-NADA), which is a major component of ARCCESS project implementation.

The ARCCESS project is a government-led initiative to tap intersectoral (Public-social-private) partnerships to increase farm productivity and improve household incomes of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) by providing livelihood through the organization of agricultural enterprises managed by ARBs.

         ARCCESS also aims to teach farmers agri-business technologies to help them establish farm enterprises and gain access to credit, better markets and participate in economies of scale.  Another important goal of the ARCCESS program is to enhance organizational management, i.e., strengthen farmers’ organizations where a lot of  Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) are members.

          Target beneficiaries under this activity are five (5) Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs) in Cagayan province, namely: MADUVICA ARC in Sta. Ana, SUNRISE ARC in Gattaran, SABUNG ARC in Tuao, MADUVILLA ARC in Piat; and MALAUEG ARC in Rizal. 

Under the MOA, the CSU shall undertake the Needs Assessment as a systematic approach to identify the nature and scope of the problem being addressed and the reasons that are causing the problems, to identify the target population to be served, and to determine the services needed to meet the problem/s.

The CSU shall also conduct a Design Assessment to model the theory behind the ARCCESS Project and present a plan for improving the social condition of the target organization/community. The activity intends to improve the capacity of the ARBs in organizing and managing agri-enterprises.

A Final Report shall be submitted by CSU to DAR, wherein such report shall be considered in determining the types of intervention available and suitable for the ARB organization/community under the ARCCESS project, such as provision of common services facilities (CSF), e.g., water pumps, tractors, threshers, harvesters, dryers, etc.,  and/or business development services, etc. /cds