Rehabilitated Farm-to-market road boosts income of ARBs

Buguey, Cagayan – Officials from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) led by Atty. Marjorie P. Ayson, Regional Director (DAR Region 02) has turned over in favor of the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Buguey, led by OIC-Mayor Roderick Antiporda, among others, and the barangay officials of Tabbac, Buguey, Cagayan,  the responsibility for the utilization and maintenance of the rehabilitated and improved farm-to-market road during a turn-over ceremony held on March 19, 2013 at barangay Tabbac in Buguey, Cagayan province. Officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Region 02 also attended the turn-over ceremony. 

The project involved the rehabilitation and improvement of the Tabbac Proper – Junction National Road (JNR) – Sitio San Francisco Road at Sta. Isabel Agrarian Reform Community (Sta. Isabel ARC), Buguey, Cagayan. The farm-to-market road has a length of 4.078 kilometers at a project cost of P7,297,746.21 and funded by the Department of Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project III (DAR-ARISP3).

According to the barangays officials, the farm-to-market road project has significantly improved the quality of life of farmers in the area as they can now transport or load on their kuliglig (hand tractor with trailer) around 20 cavans of palay instead of the usual 7 cavans only before the FMR project was implemented. They can now also have more frequent trips to the market to sell their produce, such as vegetables and watermelon, among others. But the most significant improvement in the lives of ARBs is the fact that the number of traders have increased because of the new access to the farms/products in the community resulting to higher selling prices of farm produce by the farmers as they are now able to choose which trader offers the higher buying price. Additionally, the cost of hauling has been reduced by at least 30%, increasing the savings in favor of the ARBs. The completed FMR now also serves as an alternative route from the town proper to the Lallo International Airport in nearby town of Lallo, Cagayan.

The rehabilitation and improvement of the Tabbac Proper – Junction National Road (JNR) – Sitio San Francisco Road at Sta. Isabel Agrarian Reform Community (Sta. Isabel ARC), Buguey, Cagayan seeks to boost the productivity and income of agrarian reform beneficiaries and the members of their household who have been burdened with excessive fare and hauling costs of farm produce due to poor road condition. /cds

DAR and DA-PCIC provide P17.1B crop insurance for ARBs

DAR allots  P1B premium subsidy

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Regional Office 02 has recently conducted an orientation/briefing on the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries-AgriculturalInsurance Program (ARB-AIP) attended by Municipal Agrarian Reform Officers (MAROs) and Development Facilitators (DFs)  from Cagayan and Nueva Vizcaya provinces at the Ivory Hotel in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan. A similar briefing was also conducted for MAROs and DFs from Isabela and Quirino provinces in Cauayan, Isabela.

The ARB-AIP is a P17.1 billion crop insurance plan between the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), wherein the DAR shall provide a premium subsidy worth P1 billion.

The ARB-AIP will provide protection for over 224,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) and members of their households who are farming around 330,000 hectares of land and raising approximately 30,700 farm animals nationwide. DAR shall identify who are the qualified ARBs under the program.

It is a safety net for ARBs against losses caused by crop pests, diseases; losses from damage of farm machineries; and also from the devastating unpredictable weather patterns due to climate change. In addition, an ARB shall receive protection against loss of life or limbs under an Accident and Dismemberment Security Scheme.

Only ARB participants to key DAR programs shall be eligible under the ARB-AIP scheme, such as the Agrarian Reform Connectivity and Economic Support Service, Agrarian Production Credit Program, Credit Assistance for Program Beneficiaries Development, and the Microfinance Capacity Development in Agrarian Reform Areas. /cds

DAR-Cagayan turns-over Common Service Facilities (CSF) to ARB Coops

     A huge warehouse in Alicia, Isabela served as a temporary storage for tractors, threshers, reapers, harvesters, water pumps and other farm machineries and equipments worth P21,117,474.00 awaiting delivery to the various farmers’ organizations in the Cagayan Valley Region.

     These farm machineries and equipments were acquired under the Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services (ARCCESS) project of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).  The ARCCESS program is a government initiated activity pursuant to the mandate of R.A. 6657 (CARP), now known as CARPER (R.A. 9700) after the former was amended and extended. It involves the participation of state colleges and universities, civil society organizations, private institutions and other stake holders aimed at providing a wide range of services to improve the performance of agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations (ARBOs) in terms of agri-enterprise, access to markets, product development, ability to compete with other businesses, and participate in economies of scale.

   It aims to improve farm productivity, increase the CARP beneficiaries’ net income and also sustain the farmers’ livelihood by improving the organizational management capabilities of organizations being managed by agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) through agri-enterprise development.   

    In Cagayan province, three ARB cooperatives in three Agrarian Reform Communities were initially identified as beneficiary-cooperatives, namely South Western Solana Farmers Cooperative in Solana, Cagayan; Naguillan Christian Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Lallo, Cagayan; and Nararagan Valley Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Ballesteros, Cagayan.

     On March 14, 2013 the DAR provincial office of Cagayan, headed by PARO Virgilio M. Acasili turned-over various Common Service Facilities (CSF) consisting of hand tractors with implements, threshers, water pumps and other farm implements in favor of the farmers’ cooperatives at Alicia, Isabela after the execution of the necessary contracts during the turn-over  ceremony.

 For Cagayan province, Solana West Farmers Cooperative (SOWESFACO) received two hand tractors with implements, three threshers and four water pumps; Naguillian Christian MPC received three hand tractors with implements, three threshers, one reaper and a mechanical transplanter with seeder conveyor; and Nararagan Valley MPC received three hand tractors with implements, three threshers  and four water pumps. 

    These CSFs will help modernize farming in the Cagayan province and substantially increase the income of ARBs and their households. The farm machineries were distributed as equipment grant to be operated by the ARB organizations as a business asset wherein they can collect minimal fees for the operation and maintenance thereof. The ARCCESS  project would also teach ARBs agri-business technologies  and assist them establish viable and sustainable farm enterprises and provide access to credit and better markets.    /cds

     

DAR approves Php26 million projects for Lallo ARB Coop

Lallo, Cagayan – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has approved the funding for projects worth P26 million in favor of the Naguillan Christian Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Naguillan Christian MPC) under the Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services program (ARCCESS). 

The ARCCESS program aims to improve farm productivity, increase the CARP beneficiaries’ net income and also sustain the farmers’ livelihood by improving the organizational management capabilities of organizations being managed by agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) through agri-enterprise development.

     The ARCCESS program is a government initiated activity in pursuance to the mandate of R.A. 6657 (CARP), now known as CARPER (R.A. 9700) after the former was amended and extended. It involves the participation of state colleges and universities, civil society organizations, private institutions and other stake holders aimed at providing a wide range of services to improve the performance of agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations (ARBOs) in terms of agri-enterprise, access to markets, product development, ability to compete with other businesses, and participate in economies of scale.

     As such, the Naguillan Christian Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Lallo, Cagayan shall be receiving assistance in the form of provision and construction of common service facilities (CSF), such as: post harvest facilities, truck, warehouse, mechanical dryer, etc. It also includes the provision of financial management trainings to ensure the sustainability of the project which will be managed by the cooperative. The cooperative was recently visited by no less than DAR Secretary Virgilio de Los Reyes sometime in November 2012 during the conduct of the capability assessment of the cooperative. /cds

DAR Secretary Virgilio de Los Reyes at Naguillan Christian MPC in Lallo, Cagayan. (Photo by: DAR Regional Office 02)

DAR Pips You Should Know: Jojo Juan, OIC-Head, PMEU

The PMEU, or the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, is  section in the DAR Provincial Office of Cagayan province that is tasked with Database Management, among other things. It is also tasked with monitoring, administration and maintenance of databases and database groups in the DAR Provincial Office.

A Database is an organized collection of data, usually in digital form today, which is systematically organized to model relevant aspects of reality such as, land acquisition and distribution, support services, legal services, etc.

Hence, the PMEU organizes information related to Land Tenure Improvement (land acquisition and distribution), databases pertaining to program beneficiaries development, the delivery of agrarian justice, and recently, the conduct of the Agrarian Reform Communities Level of Development Assessment (ALDA) and feed backing thereof.

The ALDA is conducted yearly by the Department of Agrarian Reform. This yearly activity is conducted to obtain information about the different aspects of development in the agrarian reform communities. It shows basic indicators at the community level and builds an index for each of the key result areas, providing an overall index for analysis. It measures the ARC’s development, hence, if the interventions among key result areas are implemented, it will show that rural development is feasible.

Additionally, it maintains the Field Operations (FO files) Database, the ARC  Monitoring and Tracking System (ARC-MTS), the EP-CLOA Information System (EPIS/CLOAIS), our Sectoral Reports, etc., a tough job for such a small office unit.

The PMEU is headed by Mr. ELVERITO A. JUAN, Computer Programmer II, who is the OIC-Head of the Unit. He is married to Rosalinda Valdepenas and gifted with two kids. He is joined in the PMEU by Engr. Albert “Jack” Paguirigan, Engineer II; Esther Quizzagan, Assistant Statistician; and Fritz Irigayen, Administrative Aide II.

They not only gather data, but also assist in the conduct of analyses from such data/information that support processes requiring accurate information. JOJO, as we call him is a silent type, hard working individual. Their outputs are actually a big help for DAR personnel in the field offices as it helps in a significant way in tracking the various landholdings for acquisition and distribution which graduates into the generation and registration of EP/CLOA titles in favor agrarian reform beneficiaries. /cds

Agrarian coops to get more support

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) have forged an agreement to provide more support for agrarian reform beneficiaries’ (ARB) cooperatives nationwide.

The program aims to provide strengthening and capability building trainings for members and officers of some 1,600 ARB cooperatives, re-registration and assistance for the renewal of the status as cooperatives in good standing of these cooperatives.  

This will provide ARB cooperatives with the trainings required under R.A. 9520 (Cooperative Code of 2008) for officers and members of cooperatives. It will also strengthen farmers’ cooperative as instruments of equity, social justice and economic development as expressed the in Philippine Constitution.

The DAR and CDA will also assist new farmers’ cooperatives in the preparation of the documents needed for registration and will help them improve their operations and preserve and build up their capital.

The agreement between DAR and CDA was earlier disclosed in Cagayan De Oro City during the 2012 National Cooperative Summit wherein DAR has committed to provide funding for trainings for ARB cooperatives to be primarily implemented by the CDA. It is also a part of the agreements reached during such summit, that is, to mainstream the farmer-beneficiary cooperatives into the cooperative movement. /cds

Philippine Cooperative Sector: Some vital stats

CDA Chairman Dr. Emmanuel Santiaguel, PhD delivering the State of the Cooperatives Address (SOCA).

1.    There are 11.7 million Filipinos who are members of cooperatives, or about 10% of the population as of September 30, 2012; 

2.    There are 22,133 registered cooperatives  at present, the rate of increase had dropped compared to previous years because of cooperatives branching out  instead of new cooperatives being registered. The Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) issued 134 Certificates of Authority and Recognition to coop branches and satellite offices nationwide;

      3.    An estimated P160,986,472,748 volume of business was generated by the cooperative sector;

      4.    Almost 76% of cooperatives  are classified as Micro Scale, with assets of not more than three (3) million pesos and 16.16% are classified as Small Scale;

      5.    Only 6.74% of the cooperatives belong to the Medium Scale;

      6.    About 334 (1.62%)registered cooperatives belong to the Large Scale;

      

      7.    The combined Large Scale and Medium Scale cooperatives contributed a total of P122,775,397,027 volume of business and total assets of P108,637,570,716. This means that majority of the cooperatives are those that have assets of not more than three (3) million, prone to financial difficulties and with little or no capacity to expand to meet the needs of the their members-clients;

 8.    More than 65% of registered cooperative are multi-purpose;

 9.    About 11.23% are engaged in credit and lending;

     10.  More than 5% are service and producer cooperatives;

      11.  There are 4.96% consumer cooperatives;

     
      12.  There are 3.59% marketing cooperatives and the rest represent 1% of the total;

13.  In 2011, the cooperative sector generated 141,260 indirect and 201,225 direct employments;

      14.  As of July 2012, the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) have 100% active Regional CDC, 63% from Provincial Council, City Council with 80.1% and Municipal with only 38.91% Council who are actively participating with our cooperative development programs;

      15.   The CDA has received only a total of 11,944 CAPRs and only 11, 692 coops submitted Audited Financial Statements. (49% of the cooperatives has yet to submit these reports);

     16.   As of September 2012 the CDA has only 5,191 approved ACBL amendments out of 8,023 applications received; 

     17.   The cooperative sector has available services of only 831 total accredited individual CPAs and 87 firms nationwide that will handle the audit of the financial statements of the cooperatives; and

      18.   The amendment of CDA Charter and the mandatory creation of the Cooperative Development Office in the Local Government Units is still being scrutinized and deliberated upon on its 3rd and final reading in congress. 

Source: State of the Cooperative Address (2012 National Cooperative Summit)  /cds

Iguig ARB Coop receives Php1M loan from Land Bank

The Eastern Iguig Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Eastern Iguig MPC) received a one million peso (Php1,000,000.00) loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines through the Credit Assistance Program for Program Beneficiaries Development (CAP-PBD) of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for relending purposes to members of the cooperative. A symbolic one-million peso check was awarded by DAR ASEC Jose G. Grajeda on October 4, 2012 during the turn-over ceremony at barangay Sta. Barbara, Iguig, Cagayan.

Farmer-beneficiary members of Eastern Iguig MPC receiving the Php1million loan. 

The Credit Assistance Program for Program Beneficiaries Development (CAP-PBD) was conceptualized to provide credit support to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries' organizations who cannot yet qualify under the accreditation criteria of government and private financing institutions. The said credit support aims to serve as a venue to develop the ARB organizations' entrepreneurial competence and credit worthiness, leading to their qualification to avail of the different credit windows of financial institutions.

Land Bank and DAR staff.

Each of the thirty-one (31) farmer-beneficiary member of the cooperative can avail P25,000 per hectare for rice production with an interest of two percent (2%) per month payable within one hundred eighty (180) days. /cds

DAR turns over Php15M road to LGU-Iguig

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR-Region 02) turned over the concreted farm-to-market (FMR) road in favor of the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Iguig, Cagayan on October 4, 2012. The project costs P15,400,643.22 funded by DAR-Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project (DAR-ARISP), Phase III.

Ribbon cutting: L-R: Hon. Juditas Trinidad, DAR Regional Director Atty. Marjorie Ayson-Alzate, PARO Gil Acasili and DAR ASEC  Jose Z. Grajeda. 

The DAR-ARISP III project is funded jointly by the Government of the Philippines through the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and by the Government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It involves a tripartite approach, a collaboration among the implementing agencies. It involves construction/rehabilitation of rural infrastructure such as irrigation facilities, farm-to-market roads, post harvest facilities, and rural water supply systems, agrarian reform information and marketing center building, development of coop-managed agri-business/rural enterprise/livelihood farmers’ organizations in the Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs) through appropriate training and capacity building approaches.

The P15 million farm-to-market road (4.5 kms.) at Eastern Iguig Agrarian Reform Community. 

The 4.536-kilometer Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) traverses the barangays/villages of Minanga Sur, Sta. Barbara and San Esteban, which are also the component barangays of EASTERN IGUIG AGRARIAN REFORM COMMUNITY (Eastern Iguig ARC). 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.

MARO Arthur Urata (speaking) and DF Edgar Cordova facilitated the realiztion of this DAR-ARISP project.  

The project was facilitated mainly by the DAR Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer, MARO Arthur Urata, presently assigned at DAR Municipal Office at Iguig, Cagayan and Edgar Cordova, the Development Facilitator (DF) at DARMO-Iguig. The project was strongly supported by the Local Government of Iguig led by the Mayor Hon. Juditas Trinidad and the Vice-Mayor, Hon. Ferdinand Trinidad as head of the Municipal Council.

Iguig town mayor, Hon. Juditas Trinidad

In the province of Cagayan, Farm-to-Market Roads are some of the support services being implemented under the agrarian reform program which traditionally serves to connect rural or agricultural areas to market towns, such as Tuguegarao City, where the major markets and distribution centers are located.

DAR Regional Director Atty. Marjorie Ayson-Alzate,

          The concrete farm-to-market road will provide the community with an all-weather barangay road and will also significantly help reduce the farmers’ costs of transporting their goods and reduce the travel time to the market and trading centers.

DAR ASEC Jose Z. Grajeda.

Project beneficiaries and stakeholders. 

The turn-over ceremony was attended by no less than DAR ASEC. Jose Z. Grajeda, DAR Regional Director, Atty. Marjorie Ayson-Alzate, PARO Virgilio Acasili, Mayor Juditas Trinidad, Vice-Mayor Ferdinand Trinidad, other public officials, members of the media, farmer-beneficiaries and other stakeholders. The event was facilitated by MARO Arthur Urata. cds/mtb
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DAR-Cagayan Tree Planting

The Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office (DARPO) in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan celebrated the 3^rd CARPER (R.A. No. 9700) Anniversary on August, 2012 with a tree planting activity at barangay Maddarulug, Solana, Cagayan wherein approximately 300 mahogany tree and other fruit tree seedlings were planted by the municipal agrarian reform officers (MAROs), division chiefs (CARPOs), and provincial agrarian reform officers (PAROs).   

For our children and our children's children...

The  tree planting activity is in line with the National Greening Program (NGP) pursuant to Executive Order No. 26, dated February 24, 2011 signed President Benigno S. Aquino, III which mandated the DA-DAR-DENR Convergence Initiative to develop a National Greening Program in cooperation with the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Department of Social Welfareand Development (DSWD), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), private sector and other concerned agencies and institutions. The program aims to plant trees on 1.5 million hectares for a period of six years from 2011 to 2016. It is a multi-sectoral project, as such, the project harmonizes all the greening efforts of both public and private sectors, such as the Upland Development Program, LuntiangPilipinas, etc.   

No, that's not an ARB, that's PARO Gil Acasili...

       Under the program, any individual, group, school, organization, or company can be a part of the NGP as a volunteer tree planter, or donor/sponsor of seedlings, planting tools, and other materials such as organic fertilizers. In fact, government employees and students (Grades 5-6, high school, and college) are expected to plant at least 10 seedlings a year.

A little more and we're done for today....

Barangays and state universities and colleges (SUCs) are also encouraged to establish nurseries for the NGP. The DAR is also targeting Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs) to participate by encouraging them to establish nurseries and to plant fuel wood in order to reduce the need to cut down other trees for fuel.

Fertilizer please...

The NGP aims to plant a variety of trees such as, agroforestry species for the production zones and indigenous/native/endemic species for protection zones and urban areas.  /cds