Survey bares rise in income of CARP beneficiaries

The average annual household income of farmer-beneficiaries of the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) has increased by as much 11 percent indicating a decline in the proportion of poor families living in the countryside, a mid-term survey conducted by the Department of Land Reform’s Agrarian Reform Communities Project (ARCP) showed.

The average annual household income of farmers increased to about P71,000 from the baseline of about P64,000. Farmer-beneficiaries in Mindanao registered the highest increase in income at P87,000, or some 26 percent up from previous years.

DLR Secretary Nasser Pangandaman said the improvement in the incomes of the farmers could be attributed to the infrastructure and support services provided for by the government through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) in agrarian reform communities (ARCs).

"Significant gains in the farmers’ income is apparent specifically in ARCs where rural infrastructure support services and facilities were delivered in line with President Arroyo’s priority program aimed at developing ARCs into agri-business zones," Pangandaman said.

According to the survey, the farmers in ARCs with infrastructure projects have relatively higher average annual household income of P51,603 compared to the P38,111 average household annual incomes in areas without infrastructure projects.

Pangandaman explained that household incomes consist of the earnings derived by farmers from on-farm, off-farm, and non-farm sources.  On-farm income includes earnings from crop production and livestock products while off-farm income is earned through manual labor. Non-farm income, on the other hand, consists of earnings from employment and other rural-based enterprises.

The mid-term survey noted that the increase in the average annual income is recorded in areas with completed infrastructure projects, where on-farm income substantially increased by as much as 35 percent.

The project assessment was conducted in April 2004 using 2,331 household respondents in 100 ARCs nationwide.  The baseline and re-survey assessment were conducted using the same household sampling units.  Baseline survey was conducted in 2001 while the re-survey was conducted in April 2004.

About 129 completed infrastructure projects were already serviceable in the ARCs when the mid-term assessment was conducted.

ARCP is funded through ODA of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which helps CARP beneficiaries in 162 ARCs nationwide for six years, starting 1999.