By Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz
The Department of Agrarian Reform has distributed certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) and support services to 1,157 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Cagayan Valley.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
The agricultural lands covering an area of 2,044 hectares are situated in the provinces of Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, and Isabela.
DAR Secretary John Castriciones, assisted by DAR Undersecretary Emily Padilla, led the ceremonial turnover of farm machines including harvesters and tractors worth P50.5 million to farm cooperatives in Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Isabela, and Cagayan.
“We want to uplift their economic lives by increasing their agricultural production and household income. That’s why these farm inputs are being provided to enhance the support systems of our ARBs,” Padilla said.
DAR also turned over three bridges under the “TulayngPanguloparasakaunlarang Pang-Agraryo.” The bridges are in Baggao, Cagayan, and Luna and Echague in Isabela.
Under the village-level farm-focused enterprise development program, a food-processing center was turned over to the Villa Pascua Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Quirino.
The project called Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty worth P293,000 was awarded to the Tres Reyes ARB Cooperative.
Also launched was the ARB Housing for farmers. “Our farmers do not only need their own land to till, they also need to have a house of their own,” said Castriciones.
The DAR-Land Bank partnership on Accessible and Sustainable Lending program for farmers and the livelihood assistance project in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development were also introduced.