ARBOs in Cagayan province granted P8.6M APCP loan

There are at least five agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations (ARBOs) in Cagayan province who have applied for loan services from the DA-DAR-LBP Agrarian Production Credit Program (APCP) to finance crop production that will expand agri-enterprise and livelihood projects of their members.

Three of these ARBOs’ applications have been approved as of June 2014, namely: (1) Bical-Baliuag ARB MPC in CABICA Agrarian Reform Community (ARC), Penablanca, Cagayan with a total loan release of P3,300,000.00 for agricultural production loan on corn production benefiting 54 member-ARBs; (2) Caagaman ARC Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Caagaman ARC, Aparri, Cagayan with a loan release of P1,300,000.00 for agricultural production loan on rice production benefiting 60 member-ARBs; and (3) Aparri Valley of Jothbath MPC in Seabreeze ARC, Aparri, Cagayan with a loan release of P4,000,000.00 for agricultural production loan on rice production benefiting 130 member-ARBs.

The other ARBOs who have similarly applied for loan under the APCP but are still awaiting the approval thereof are: Bugnay MPC in the Sabung ARC, Tuao, Cagayan with a loan application of P3,000,000.00 for agricultural production loan on rice production to benefit 54 member-ARBs and Cabayabasan Farmers Cooperative in Nueva Segovia ARC, Lallo, Cagayan with a loan application of P1,500,000.00 to benefit 58 member-ARBs.

According to data earlier disclosed by Mr. Virgilio M. Acasili, Provincial Agrarian Program Reform Officer II (PARPO II) of Cagayan-Batanes provinces, only 57% of farmers have access to credit from financing institutions; that one in three ARBs in ARCs is in need of credit; that new ARB organizations may still not qualify under CAP-PBD and LBP regular lending program; that some ARB organizations still require organizational strengthening to make them credit worthy; and that for these reasons the DA, DAR and LBP have to pool resources and expertise to help ARBs access affordable credit, development assistance and marketing support. 

Sometime in 2012, PresidentBenigno S. Aquino, in line with his commitment to ensure ample support for Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARB instructed the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release P1.0 billion to the Department of Agriculture (DA) for the nationwide implementation of the Agrarian Production Credit Program (APCP).

The release was made chargeable against the 2012 General Appropriations Act and is in accordance with a five-year Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by the DA, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), and Land Bank of the Philippines. It will provide much-needed credit assistance to farmer-beneficiaries under the agrarian reform program.

Under the MOA, the DA will place the P1-billion fund with Land Bank, P300 million of which will be allocated exclusively for Negros Occidental. The total fund will be used to support the credit requirements of ARBs or ARB household members for their individual or communal crop production projects including  agri-enterprise and livelihood activities.

Through the program, the DA will provide basic support and services, such as marketing assistance and technology packages to qualified ARB organizations (ARBOs). Meanwhile, DAR will be at the helm of identifying eligible ARBs or ARB household members to Landbank. The agency will also provide parallel institutional development assistance to participating ARBOs to help them graduate them to regular lending programs.

DAR will also provide capability-building assistance to beneficiaries, as well as professional management services and facilities support, including those for farm equipment, postharvest facilities, and storage, among others.

This capacity-building program is tailored for new and existing ARBs who are yet to avail loans. Adopting a more lenient set of policies and procedures in extending credit, APCP is the vehicle through which financial and technical services shall be delivered to ARBs consisting mainly of credit provisioning and capacity building to ARB organizations.

               Under this program, ARBs in organizations within the top 21 high LAD provinces shall be able to develop their knowledge and competencies in engaging and managing agri-enterprises, as well as upgrade their skills on financial management thereby enhancing their credit worthiness or bankability. /cds

Three Cagayan Valley towns into Sugarcane Block Farming

Planning workshop of DAR and ARB
coops for block sugar faming

The Sugarcane Block Farming project is currently being implemented by the Department of Agrarian Reform provincial office of Cagayan wherein small farms owned by agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in sugar-producing areas are being consolidated to increase the ARBs’ profitability through ‘block’ farming. Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II (PARPO II) Virgilio M. Acasili said the implementation of the project is pursuant to the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed between and among the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). Under the MOA, the DAR will shoulder the cost of farm tractors and business development services. The DA will cover the development of irrigation facilities and the improvement of farm-to-mill roads while the SRA will shoulder the cost of agri-technology and overall management of the block farms.

At least two (2) municipalities in Cagayan province are preparing to engage in sugarcane block farming to increase profitability and  also a way of preparing our ARB-sugar farmers against the effects of competition resulting from the implementation of the free trade agreement within the ASEAN region by 2015,  when the tariffs on agricultural goods can be as low as five percent to even zero.

The demand for sugar is continuously rising due to the increasing requirements for production of bioethanol (from sugar) and in power cogeneration which uses sugarcane waste called bagasse. Presently, energy companies are allowed to import bioethanol to supply their needs as local production cannot meet the current demand. Bioethanol made from sugarcane consumes the least amount of energy and emits the least amount of greenhouse gas, which means it is one of the most earth-friendly power sources.

The local sugar industry’s biggest competition is the entry of cheaper sugar from Thailand and is considered as a real threat that can affect local production and pull down domestic prices to the prejudice of local farmers. Sugar from the Philippines is still being exported with the United States as its major market. According to the SRA, sugar exports will soon include India, Korea, Indonesia and the Middle East.

Sugarcane block farming will happen in the municipalities of Solana and Tuao, all in the south-western part of Cagayan province where large tracks of lands are planted to sugarcane that provide the raw materials for the Cagayan RobinaSugar Milling Company (CARSUMCO) in Sto. Domingo, Piat, Cagayan. Also included in the project is Cabagan town in Isabela province. 

Under the block farming system, small farms of agrarian reform beneficiaries with areas of less than 10 hectares will be consolidated and integrated into 30-50 hectares through various schemes such as contracting, joint venture, partnership and sharing.

The block farms will be managed as one farm so that activities in the small individual farms are synchronized to the plans of the whole block, Hence, resources including farm workers, equipment and financing, could be utilized more efficiently. Although the farms are operated as a block, the ARB remains as the absolute owner of their farm, they will not lose ownership of their land titles. The block farms will be managed by their farmers’ organizations or cooperatives who will be assisted by a farm manager hired and supervised by the SRA.

Block farming is the consolidation of small farms to help increase productivity and to widen the scale of sugar production. ARBs are encouraged to organize themselves into cooperatives to make their farm operations more cost-efficient which will result to lesser cost of production resulting to more profitable per unit area. It is a support services program intended for the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) beneficiaries.

The government is targeting to have at least 100 sugarcane block farm sites by 2015. The average sugar cane yield per hectare is currently at 60 tons but this can be increased to 70-80 tons per hectare through farm mechanization and improved production process.

Under the block farming system, DAR provides all that the farmers will need such as farm inputs, new farm techniques and common service facilities that consists of a mechanized tractors and a hauling trucks, etc.  These inputs and farm equipment will  be provided as grants to the farmers’ cooperatives being the conduit between DAR, etc and the farmer-beneficiaries who are parties to the project.

           According to studies conducted by SRA, the program can help increase their sugar cane production from 99 to 147 bags of sugar per hectare, which could be translated to a possible increase in income of about P39, 000 for the farmer-beneficiaries. /cds 

The Man from Bulagao

There is this farmer from the obscure barrio of Bulagao, in the municipality of Tuao in Cagayan province who never thought that the agrarian reform program could be a way out of the widespread bondage of poverty in the countryside. Domingo Darisan experienced being poor most of his childhood until the time the Philippine government implemented the Operation Land Transfer under Presidential Decree No. 27 on October 21, 1972, which decreed the emancipation of tenants from the bondage of the soil. He still vividly remembers the hardships he had to undergo to sustain his family in Tuao, Cagayan.

Tuao is a municipality in the province Cagayan in Region II (Cagayan Valley). It is seated about 31 km west-north-west of the provincial capital Tuguegarao City and about 353 km north of the capital of the Philippines-Manila. The recorded history of Tuao began in 1604 when it was founded by the Spanish Civil Government. The backbone of the local economy since time immemorial is predominantly agricultural. The municipality is now composed of 32 barangays. Agrarian Reform Beneficiary (ARB) Domingo Darisan, born on October 30, 1930 resides in barangay Bulagao, in Tuao, Cagayan where he was able to create his own successful life story.  

As a young man, he never took life seriously as he was described by his peers as a “bad boy”, that it is, a gambler, hard drinker, a man who is an avid admirer of women, etc. He experienced being a laborer, a carpenter, a farm worker, a tenant who cultivated a small portion of agricultural land belonging to landowner Vicente Querol, who because of his diligence and dedication to work, entrusted him with the cultivation of around five hectares more, which he shared with others. He planted tobacco, corn, palay, etc.

He was married to Elilia Aggangan where they had three children before the latter died. He was later on re-married to Prudencia Aggangan wherein and they had additional seven children. Meantime, he continued to work hard to sustain the needs of the family. Still being poor, he recalled the days that he and his children worked in the fields as farm laborers to have food on the table.

Upon the implementation of Operation Land Transfer under Presidential Decree No. 27, he was one of the identified farmer-beneficiaries of the Vicente Querol landholding in Bulagao, Tuao, Cagayan having been covered under the program, being planted to rice and corn, and tenanted. As a duly identified agrarian reform beneficiary, the parcel of land was actually tilling was awarded to him. He later on received his title to the land, that is, an Emancipation Patent containing an area of 1.9497 hectares, more or less. Being an agrarian reform beneficiary, he had access to opportunities provided by the government such as agricultural technologies, farm production credit access and other forms of assistance.

It was this moment in his life that he doubled his efforts in making the land productive, considering that he now owns the land he tills. Aside from farming, he raised some pigs (he had 20 pigs) and later sold them. With his savings, he bought a cow and with this single cow it later multiplied into around 30-40 heads of cows. Still not contented, he engaged in buying and selling fruits, that is, he bought mangoes and bananas from the nearby municipality of Rizal, Cagayan and sold them for profit in faraway Bulacan province. Over the years, as he increased his efforts, he was able to acquire farm machineries such as hand tractor, pump wells, an elf truck and a mini dump truck to haul his crops. He now has a dozen employees to help run the enterprises he is engaged in.

He later on acquired other properties and now rests in his big concrete house, also taking pride in the success of his children, that is, a real estate developer, a restaurant owner in Abu Dhabi, a Seaman (Marine Engineer), a Nurse in Philadelphia (USA), a Medical Technologist. Five of his ten children are presently residing in Abu Dhabi in the Middle East and the others are all professionals in their own chosen fields.

For ARB Domingo Darisan, the agrarian reform program of the Philippine government is a life changing factor in rescuing impoverished farmers in the countryside and transforming them into farmer-entrepreneurs that are substantially contributing to the improvement of the local economy. The program is able to create farmers like him towards principal stakeholders in propelling communities into industrialization and as major players in economies of scale. /christiandsales