DARPO-Cagayan launches two eFBS sites

The Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office of Cagayan-Batanes has launched another two (2) new sites for the enhanced Farm Business School (eFBS) program to equip agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Amulung, Cagayan and Gattaran, Cagayan with entrepreneurial skills and knowledge in farm management, marketing, costing, and basic accounting, aiming to boost their income and contribute to agricultural sustainability. 

The Department of Agrarian Reform’s (DAR) enhanced Farm Business School (eFBS) has made a significant impact on agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) and rural farming communities by transforming traditional subsistence farming into sustainable agribusiness ventures. Here are some key ways the FBS has contributed to the development of the agricultural sector:

1. Economic Empowerment of Farmers

The FBS program teaches ARBs how to manage their farms as businesses, enabling them to maximize profits and reduce losses. By applying financial management and marketing strategies, many farmers have transitioned from being mere producers to agripreneurs who actively engage in the agricultural value chain.

• Higher Income Generation: Graduates of the program have reported increased earnings due to improved farm productivity and better pricing strategies.

• Job Creation: With better farm management, some ARBs have expanded their operations, creating employment opportunities within their communities.

2. Improved Agricultural Practices

Through FBS training, farmers gain technical knowledge in modern farming techniques, proper record-keeping, and sustainable agricultural practices. These innovations lead to higher yields, better-quality crops, and more efficient farm management. 

3. Strengthening Farmers' Organizations

The FBS encourages farmers to collaborate and form cooperatives, which gives them better leverage in the market. Collective farming, bulk purchasing, and group marketing strategies have made it easier for smallholder farmers to negotiate with buyers, suppliers, and financial institutions.

4. Enhanced Market Access

Before undergoing FBS training, many ARBs struggled to find stable markets for their produce. The program equips them with market analysis skills, negotiation techniques, and product branding knowledge, allowing them to sell directly to consumers, supermarkets, and institutional buyers.

• Linkages with Agribusiness Enterprises: Some farmer groups have successfully secured contracts with local businesses, ensuring a steady demand for their crops.

5. Sustainability and Food Security

By teaching financial literacy, risk management, and diversification strategies, FBS helps farmers prepare for market fluctuations and climate-related risks. This resilience ensures consistent food production, contributing to both local and national food security.

Difference between the FBS and the eFBS: 

The Farm Business School (FBS) and the Enhanced Farm Business School (EFBS) programs of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) both aim to improve the entrepreneurial skills of farmers. However, there are key differences between the two:

1. Farm Business School (FBS)

• Traditional Approach: The FBS is a training program designed to help farmers develop business skills to manage their farms as enterprises.

• Focus: It emphasizes basic farm business management, such as planning, production, marketing, and financial literacy.

• Implementation: Conducted in agrarian reform communities (ARCs), teaching farmers how to increase farm productivity and income through structured training sessions.

• Target Audience: Smallholder farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), and rural communities.

2. Enhanced Farm Business School (EFBS)

• Expanded & Upgraded Version: The EFBS builds on the foundation of FBS but includes enhanced learning modules and digital tools for better farm business management.

• Focus: Aside from basic business skills, it includes advanced topics such as value-adding, digital marketing, climate-smart agriculture, and agripreneurship.

• Implementation: Uses interactive methods like experiential learning, market linkages, and more comprehensive mentorship programs.

• Integration with Technology: EFBS integrates modern farming technologies, e-commerce, and agribusiness innovations to help farmers adapt to changing agricultural trends.

Key Differences at a Glance

Feature	Farm Business School (FBS)	Enhanced Farm Business School (EFBS)
Scope	Basic farm business management	Advanced farm business & agripreneurship
Focus	Traditional farm-to-market approach	Digital marketing, value-adding, & modern techniques
Training Method	Standard classroom-based learning	Interactive, hands-on, and technology-driven
Technology Use	Minimal	Incorporates e-commerce, ICT, & digital tools
Market Linkages	Basic	Expanded to broader markets (e.g., online selling)

Which is Better?

• If a farmer needs foundational knowledge in business planning and farm management, FBS is a good starting point.

• If a farmer wants to scale up their agribusiness, use digital tools, and explore wider markets, the EFBS is more beneficial.

The DAR’s enhanced Farm Business School has become a game-changer for Filipino farmers by shifting their mindset from traditional farming to agribusiness entrepreneurship. With its continued implementation, the program holds the potential to further uplift rural communities, reduce poverty, and enhance the agricultural sector’s overall competitiveness.                  Photos: Rosemarie Cardona

 

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.

Cagayan AR-beneficiaries learn to make wine

Bugnay wine produced by Sunrise Agrarian
Reform Community in Gattaran, Cagayan (North)

When it comes to fruit wine, most of us commonly think only of two kinds, that is, red grape wine or white grape wine. Unfortunately, there are a lot more where fruit wines come from other than grapes. Thus, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Department ofTrade and Industry (DTI) in Cagayan province have teamed up to bring fruit wine making technology to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) as a way of earing additional income by processing commonly abundant and available fruits in their localities into wines.

Scientific studies have shown that wines from fruits are rich in antioxidants because they contain lots of vitamin A, vitamin C and other minerals like calcium , iodine , zinc, manganese , selenium, potassium, etc. Fruit wines have shown to help: (1) Prevent heart disease because it contains phenolic compounds that have antioxidant properties. There are also substances in fruit wine that inhibit the absorption of cholesterol in the blood which means unblocked arteries and veins; (2) Promote better sleep because of the presence of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep and the human body clock. People with Insomnia may want to drink fruit wine to have better sleep; (3) Prevent Diabetes, due to the presence of Manganese which have been shown to stabilize blood sugar in the body. It also helps against free radical damage; (4) Control blood pressure because of its potassium and melatonin content, in addition to its fiber content which helps clean up the blood vessels by facilitating the removal of fat; (5) Inhibit cancer cells due to its antioxidant properties, that is, there are compounds that hinder the growth of cancer cells in the body; (6) Promote the formation of healthy gums, increase endurance, etc., due to its high vitamin C content. It is also believed that fruit wines have aphrodisiac properties. 

Under the fruit wine making project, the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations (ARBOs) in Cagayan province have agreed to process and produce fruit-based wines for sale to the public bearing one common label. This activity shall expand and increase the availability of fruit wines in the province, presently dominated by the Bugnay Wine from Sunrise Agrarian Reform Community (Sunrise ARC) in Gattaran, Cagayan. An Agrarian Reform Community (ARC) is a barangay at the minimum or a cluster of contiguous barangays where there is a critical mass of farmers and farm workers awaiting the full implementation of agrarian reform. The farmers and the farm workers will anchor the integrated development of the area.

However, Sunrise ARC is experiencing difficulties in meeting the demands for  fruit wine as it is hampered by limited productivity. It is expected the gap in the supply and demand chain can now be filled up by the other ARBOs producing a number of different kinds of fruit wines in the province. According to Virgilio M. Acasili, Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer II of DARPO Cagayan-Batanes, the activity is expected to generate additional income for ARBs in the province and spur allied enterprises such as the expanded volume of fruits being traded in the province in addition to other industries which the project may add such as processing of other fruits into vinegar, dried or candied fruit business, etc.  /cds

The sweet Bugnay Wine of Sunrise Agrarian Reform Community

SUNRISE AGRARIAN REFORM COMMUNITY (Sunrise ARC) in Gattaran, Cagayan produces bugnay wine as a livelihood activity in addition to farming. The ARC is abundant in bugnay fruit wherein the old folks in the community commonly used as a remedy for arthritis, as a cleansing drink to cure imbalances in the body, etc.

Bugnay or Antidesma bunius L. is an edible fruit that dangle in bunches of 40-50 oviod-shaped fruits like small berries and grapes. It is easily mistaken for wild berries or grapes due to its color and size. Bugnay grows in the mountains and is native to the Philippines due to its tropical climate. From yellowish green to pale yellow or bright red to almost black when it is ripe, it is usually abundant from June to September.

It has acquired a higher value as a raw material for wine due to the increasing awareness of the benefits of red wine and has become an alternative to the more expensive imported wines.

A study has established that bugnay wine has phytochemicals, flavonoids, catechin, proyanidins (Procyanidins are  compounds found in red wine that are good for the blood vessels and considered as one of the factors attributed to the long life spans of the people from the southwest of France and Sardinia), vitamin B1 and B2.

The bugnay fruit, according to studies, possibly has compounds with potential cytotoxic properties and methanolic activities. It is rich in anti-oxidants and anti-carcinogenic properties. The anti-oxidants in bugnay wine, like red wine is said to reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease. The alcohol content of bugnay wine also inhibits fat deposits in the arteries, reducing the occurrence of atherosclerosis or arteriosclerotic vascular disease.

After undergoing some training on fruit wine production, the members of the Sunrise Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Gattaran, Cagayan started to process and produce bugnay wine as a cooperative business which proved to be a lucrative endeavour as demand for their bugnay wine has increased.

It is being promoted in trade fairs where is one of the fast selling items. Production, however, is limited by the seasons as bugnay fruit is not available all year round.  However, whenever it is abundant, it is harvested and immediately processed resulting to increase in income of the cooperative. By:christiandsales