DAR showcases farmer success stories

MANILA, Philippines – For as long as he can remember, 60-year-old Alfredo Malunes has been tilling the rice fields in the remote town of Sopronio Española in Palawan. Having attended only a few years of primary education, he is among the hundreds of thousands of peasants uncertain of what farming has in store for him and his family.

Malunes is facing a more certain and brighter future as a beneficiary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). He is now part of the Labog Agri-based Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Palawan and participant of a Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) training and livelihood development program implemented in 2003 with the support of the Asian Development Bank to produce bamboo rainmakers for tourists.

Made of natural materials, rainmakers produce a relaxing sound of rain. It is used as an indigenous musical instrument and is sought after by tourists as souvenirs. This venture provided additional income to the cooperative members, enabling them to support their other livelihood activities.

Malunes is participating in the ongoing 8th Agraryo Trade Fair at the SM Megamall’s Megatrade Hall spearheaded by DAR’s Bureau of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development. The trade fair ends today.

With the theme “Enterprising Agrarian Reform Communities: Creating Jobs, Empowering Farmers and Ensuring Food Security,” the event marks the extension by Congress of the government’s land reform program.

Enacted in 1988 as the centerpiece program of the Aquino administration, CARP is a social justice program designed to ensure equal access to wealth and basic social services.

According to Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, DAR has distributed 4 million hectares of farm lands to some 2.3 million farmers in two decades of implementation. They comprise some 2,000 agrarian reform communities (ARCs), the core recipients of CARP’s economic programs.

Among the other noteworthy ARC projects on show at the trade fair are citrus nectar trading of Payapa, Landing and Bamban (Palaban ARC) in Tagkawayan, Quezon; the cassava food processing of Villas ABCs ARC in Alabat, Quezon; banana chips making of the Estemarconbaga ARC in Amulung, Cagayan; the Alima Peanut Cookies of Cabatuan, Isabela; organic rice farming of the Uddiawan Cluster ARC in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya; and pineapple jam processing of Davao Ventures Corporation Employees ARB Cooperative in Davao City

Non-food items include sinamay fabric weaving of Maunlad ARC in Aklan; the Vakul Ivatan Head Gear production of Batanes.

The event will also be a good opportunity for retailers to network with manufacturers and get quality products at wholesale prices.

Also to be launched is the Festival of Communities, a series of competitions showcasing the benefits of ARCs using the arts as medium.

There will also be a market and investment matching session, cooking demonstrations, photo exhibit of DAR programs, and seminars on product development and market trends.

Pangandaman revealed that with the interventions provided by DAR, independent impact studies on the CARP showed the rise in the income and productivity of farmers especially in the ARCs. He added that from mere recipients of government aid, a new breed of empowered, reliable, and progressive owner-cultivators has emerged from the program.

Agraryo Trade Fair is held in partnership with the ARB Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Development Program (AREDP), Philippine Fruit and Vegetables Industries, and supported by San Miguel Corp., Purefoods and SM Megamall, the Bureau of Agricultural Research, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Tourism, the Department Trade and Industry, Land Bank of the Philippines and the National Historical Institute.