At least 5,573 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Zamboanga del Norte are expected to benefit from a ₱32.4-million worth farm-to-market road established between the two adjoining barangays of Poblacion and Baluno.
The infrastructure, covering covers 5.28 kilometers, was turned over by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to the municipality of Godod.
DAR-Zamboanga Peninsula Regional Director Ramon Madroñal said, “The FMR would directly benefit 1,653 ARBs from Brgy. Poblacion and 3,920 ARBs from Brgy. Baluno as they would now have an efficient road access to transport their goods to various markets and trading centers thus pave the way to improve their productivity and eventually uplift the quality of their lives."
He added that aside from providing them access to transport their agricultural goods to the market, the DAR would also support the establishment of agri-business enterprises by promoting linkages between and among the agrarian reform communities of the two barangays.
Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer (PARPO) II Arturo Soria said the event was undertaken through Project ConVERGE, which is a joint-project funded by the government of the Philippines and the International Fund for Agricultural Development with DAR as the lead implementing agency.
In a related development, the DAR has inaugurated and turned over the Bagbag communal irrigation system (CIS) worth ₱2.23 million to the Federation of Irrigators Association of Aritao in Nueva Vizcaya to help increase their agricultural production and improve their living conditions.
Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Dindi Tan said the project would benefit a total of 89 farmers in the area, comprising 49 ARBs and 40 non-ARBs.
Tan said the previous irrigation system can only accommodate and service a span of 60 hectares of agricultural land.
But with the restoration and rehabilitation of the project, it has expanded its service area which can now irrigate and cover 83 hectares of land, she added.
Tan said the Bagbag CIS is funded and monitored by the DAR under the regular Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program fund, with the National Irrigation Administration as the lead implementer. (Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz)